- EPISODE 60: FROGS BY THE HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS…THEN THERE WERE NONE. WHAT HAPPENED?
- SETTING: JULY 1980…SKEOCH FARM PONDS
IN 1980 when I took this photo there were so many young frogs that my camera could not
focus. Then in 1981 most were gone, never to return
alan skeoch
June 2020
“Never seen anything like it, Marjorie…come over and take a look?”
“Are those baby frogs? Must be a thousand of them.”
“I’ve witnessed big frog populations here all
my life but never this many. Thousands
sitting there looking at us.”
SKEOCH FARM PONDS 1981
“We have no frogs.”
“A few are still in the ponds but very few.”
“What is happening?”
“Something bad…very bad. A whole
pile of creatures depend on those
frogs.”
“Snakes, Blue herons, fish, sapping
turtles, painted turtles, other frogs
(frogs are cannibalistic).”
“They will all disappear.”
“What is happening?”
SKEOCH FARM PONDS 2020
“I have not seen a leopard frog yet this
year..”
“A few may be there though…something
splashes and wiggles away among the
weeds. Must be a few frogs.”
“But there were thousands”
“What is happening?”
“Some scientists say we are in
the midst of the sixth mass extinction
and that the extinction are best noticed
with frogs”
“Do you believe that?”
“I do not know what to believe…but
what I like to believe is that the
disappearance is some kind of
natural cycle.”.
“Something is definitely wrong down
at the bottom of the food chain.”
“Can we do anything to help the
Leopard Frogs?”
“What can we do?”
“You want to hear something weird?
Back in 1980…when those thousands
of little frogs sat there looking at me…
I had the distinct feeling they were
trying to tell me something..a kind
of plea for help.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. the only help given
was by Marjorie when she pulled
a still living Leopard Frog from
the gaping mouth of a big garter
snake.”
“Lots of snakes, are there?”
“Not anymore. They used to
breed in the greenhouse big
time. Not any more.”
“A single blue heron landed in
the pond this year…and then
took off. No frogs to eat.”
“What can we do?”
“That is a very good question.”
- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LEOPARD FROGS?
- Although not recognized at the time, this event is thought to portend the worldwide amphibian decline that began about 1970 and continues to the present day. While many leopard frog populations have survived and returned to near normal levels, the leopard frogs of the Upper Midwest have a high incidence of developmental malformations.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Northern_Leopard_Frog.JPG/440px-Northern_Leopard_Frog.JPG 2x” data-file-width=”2816″ data-file-height=”2112″>Why is the northern leopard frog endangered?
-
The northern leopard frog is experiencing threats from habitat loss, disease, non-native species, pollution and climate change that individually and cumulatively have resulted in population declines, local extinctions and disappearance from vast areas of its historical range in the western U.S. and Canada.
