I was slowly walking along the zig-zag trail the other evening. I heard a slight rustling and saw a garter snake gently flowing through the green carpet of plants along the path. A moment later, this little frog popped out in front of me. It turned and started hopping away. I’m sure it sensed the snake’s presence. I took a couple of photos as it made its escape. Not wanting to add any stress to a tense situation, I moved on hoping it made it to a safer location.
Amphibian is a Greek word. Amphi means “of both kinds" and bios means "life." An amphibian’s life cycle usually starts off in an aquatic environment and moves to a terrestrial one upon maturity. Frogs began their life in water as tadpoles and move onto land as an adult. That said, frogs usually don’t venture to far from water because their skin needs to stay moist. Most amphibians breathe through their lungs and their skin. So their skin needs to stay moist in order to absorb oxygen. Fascinating!
Since the health of a frog’s skin is crucial to its survival, it is very sensitive to its environment. For this reason, frogs are considered indicator species — their presence or absence can tell us about the health of an ecosystem. Unfortunately, we have seen the decline or extinction of frog species throughout the world. It’s a warning that we need to be better caretakers of nature!
I hope you read more about frogs. Their lives are an absorbing topic.
Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora)
