Celebrating World Frog Day
It's World Frog Day! This blog post explores the fascinating and unique qualities of frogs, from their modified skeletons to their remarkable behavior. It also provides resources for learning more about frogs and their importance in conservation and biology.
Darren Naish
Zoologist, author Dr Darren Naish | Dinosaurs animals evolution | Books: DinosaursHTLE - All Yesterdays - DINOPEDIA. PREHISTORIC PLANET lead consultant AppleTV+
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It's #WORLDFROGDAY!! My god, I adore #frogs and regard them as foundational to my interest in #naturalhistory #conservation and #biology. They are crucial indicators of the health of the natural world, fascinating, and both familiar and alien at the same time. Here's a thread... pic.twitter.com/95YoEO259p
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
Few people appreciate how modified #frogs are relative to other tetrapods: they're among the most unusual of ALL tetrapods in terms of skeletal reduction and specialisation. For more on this, check out 'The Remarkably Weird Skeletons of Frogs'https://t.co/EAStuKRhyy #WorldFrogDay pic.twitter.com/oyhpmJg6Yc
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
#Frogs are behaviourally remarkable, with a vast number of unusual lifestyles. Many are under-studied or poorly understood. One excellent example: there are tropical frogs that cohabit with spiders. See ... Tiny Frogs and Giant Spiders: Best of Friends https://t.co/H8sIAuDPvA pic.twitter.com/SpHNAvUmeY
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
#Frogs are so ubiquitous, so resilient, so successful, that they serve as ambassadors for nature in many places. They are tightly connected to us. So we must help them where we can. My thoughts on this: 'A Love Letter to the Common Frog' https://t.co/KFBGUhVrwv #WorldFrogDay pic.twitter.com/2h5hGjvIi6
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
This year has seen the #ponds in my garden host the largest frog breeding aggregations we've had here, all due to a push to let the garden go wild. SO MANY #FROGS, so much spawn! Here are pics from Feb and March 2023. The graph shows spawn clutches over the years. #WorldFrogDay pic.twitter.com/lxFJdSVnAi
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
I was so inspired by all this froggy action that John Conway and I devoted an episode of the Tetrapod Zoology article to #frogs .... https://t.co/SNvYeKsTED #WorldFrogDay #amphibians
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
I've written about many of the world's #frogs, but still don't feel I've given their diversity the attention it deserves. Here's an old article on #GLASSFROGS and on their transparency and fighting adaptation... https://t.co/Psv3hq9KjL
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
Here's another article on #glassfrogs, discussing their arm spines (yes, males fight with large bony spurs on their upper arm bones) and phylogenetic position. They're hyloids, part of the same big frog group as true toads (bufonids) https://t.co/C7hMaLoO3m #WorldFrogDay pic.twitter.com/qrf3UzrHbR
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023 -
There's a large, geographically widespread frog group that we don't hear about that often: the spadefoots. Here's an article on the spectacular megophryid (or megophryine) spadefoots of SE Asia... https://t.co/QRUUbXoM2S #WorldFrogDay #frogs #amphibians pic.twitter.com/ZRPKP01vX1
— Darren Naish (@TetZoo) March 20, 2023