{"id":4850,"date":"2020-06-07T20:01:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T00:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=4850"},"modified":"2020-06-07T20:18:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T00:18:46","slug":"episode-60-frogs-thousands-and-then-there-were-none-what-happened-how-did-they-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=4850","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 60 FROGS…THOUSANDS…AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. WHAT HAPPENED. HOW DID THEY KNOW?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  • EPISODE  60:  FROGS BY  THE HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS\u2026THEN THERE WERE NONE.  WHAT HAPPENED?<\/li>\n

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  • SETTING:  JULY 1980\u2026SKEOCH FARM PONDS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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    IN 1980 when I took this photo there were so many young frogs that my camera could not<\/div>\n
    focus.  Then in 1981 most were gone, never to return<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n
    alan skeoch<\/div>\n
    June 2020<\/div>\n

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    \u201cNever seen anything like it, Marjorie\u2026come over and take a look?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cAre those baby frogs?  Must be a thousand  of them.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cI\u2019ve  witnessed big frog populations here all <\/div>\n
    my life but never this many.  Thousands<\/div>\n
    sitting there looking at us.\u201d<\/div>\n

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    SKEOCH  FARM PONDS 1981<\/div>\n

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    \u201cWe have no frogs.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cA  few  are still in the ponds but very few.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cWhat is  happening?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cSomething bad\u2026very bad.  A whole<\/div>\n
    pile of creatures depend on those<\/div>\n
    frogs.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cSnakes, Blue herons, fish, sapping<\/div>\n
    turtles, painted turtles, other frogs<\/div>\n
    (frogs are cannibalistic).\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cThey will all disappear.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cWhat is happening?\u201d<\/div>\n

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    SKEOCH  FARM PONDS  2020<\/div>\n

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    \u201cI have not seen a leopard frog yet this<\/div>\n
    year..\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cA few may be there though\u2026something<\/div>\n
    splashes  and  wiggles away among the<\/div>\n
    weeds.  Must be a  few frogs.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cBut there were thousands\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cWhat is  happening?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cSome scientists say we are in<\/div>\n
    the midst of the sixth mass extinction<\/div>\n
    and that the extinction are best noticed<\/div>\n
    with frogs\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cDo you believe that?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cI do not know what to believe\u2026but<\/div>\n
    what I  like to believe is that the <\/div>\n
    disappearance is some kind of<\/div>\n
    natural cycle.\u201d.<\/div>\n
    \u201cSomething is definitely wrong down<\/div>\n
    at the bottom of the food chain.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cCan we do anything to help the<\/div>\n
    Leopard Frogs?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cWhat can we do?\u201d<\/div>\n

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    \u201cYou want to hear something weird?<\/div>\n
    Back in 1980\u2026when those thousands<\/div>\n
    of little frogs sat there looking at me\u2026<\/div>\n
    I had the distinct feeling they were<\/div>\n
    trying to tell  me something..a kind<\/div>\n
    of  plea for help.\u201d<\/div>\n

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    \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cNothing.  the only help given<\/div>\n
    was  by Marjorie when she pulled<\/div>\n
    a still living Leopard  Frog  from<\/div>\n
    the gaping mouth of a big garter<\/div>\n
    snake.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cLots of snakes, are there?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cNot anymore.  They used to <\/div>\n
    breed  in the greenhouse big<\/div>\n
    time.  Not any more.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cA single blue heron landed in<\/div>\n
    the pond this year\u2026and then <\/div>\n
    took off.  No frogs to eat.\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cWhat can we do?\u201d<\/div>\n
    \u201cThat is a very good question.”<\/div>\n
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    • WHAT HAPPENED  TO THE LEOPARD FROGS?<\/font><\/li>\n

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    • 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \"\"upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/6\/61\/Northern_Leopard_Frog.JPG\/440px-Northern_Leopard_Frog.JPG<\/a> 2x” data-file-width=”2816″ data-file-height=”2112″><\/div>\n

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      Why is the northern leopard frog endangered?<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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        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.<\/font><\/div>\n

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        <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        EPISODE  60:  FROGS BY  THE HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS\u2026THEN THERE WERE NONE.  WHAT HAPPENED? SETTING:  JULY 1980\u2026SKEOCH 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 \u201cNever seen anything like it, Marjorie\u2026come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}