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Save The Frogs Day is April 28th, 2009. Get involved!

If you love frogs, please add our logo to your page and help spread the word:

Frog populations have been declining worldwide at unprecedented rates, and nearly one-third of the world’s 6,317 amphibian species are threatened with extinction. At least 120 species have completely disappeared since 1980, and this is NOT normal: amphibians naturally go extinct at a rate of only about one species every 250 years!!!

Frog populations are faced with an onslaught of environmental problems: pollution, infectious diseases, habitat loss, invasive species, climate change, and over-harvesting for the pet and food trades. Unless these problems are remedied, amphibian species will continue to disappear, resulting in irreversible consequences to the planet’s ecosystems.

SAVE THE FROGS! is an international team of scientists, educators, policymakers and naturalists dedicated to protecting the world’s amphibian species. We conduct and fund scientific research that directly benefits amphibian populations. We also engage in educational activities aimed at increasing the public’s awareness of environmental issues to ensure that amphibian conservation becomes – and remains – a top priority for current and future generations.

Please show your support by purchasing one of our SAVE THE FROGS! t-shirts. They're organic cotton, look great, help spread the word, and all proceeds go to SAVE THE FROGS! They make great gifts for the holiday season.

Please also check out our ridiculously cool Frogs of Australia poster, all proceeds go to SAVE THE FROGS!

We've also got savethefrogs.com bumper stickers

Please tell your friends about us, and add us to your Top Friends section if you like this page. If you are knowledgeable in the ways of MySpace and know of creative ways to draw people to this page (groups, applications, etc), or more importantly to savethefrogs.com, please take charge and see that it's done! Use our logo at the top of this page. Thanks! www.savethefrogs.com

Many of the pictures shown below are featured on the 24" x 36" Frogs of Australia poster available in our Frog Store. All proceeds go to SAVE THE FROGS! so please buy one! Thanks! And feel free to use any of the pictures we put up on this site...put one up on your page if you want.

Here is a Southern Orange-Eyed Treefrog (Litoria chloris). This species is often found calling by waterfalls in the rainforest on wet nights. They lay their eggs in streamside pools that form when water levels temporarily rise during a heavy rain. I found this frog at a stream in Queensland's Springbrook National Park.



The Australian lacelid (Nyctimistes dayi) inhabits rainforest streams of Queensland's Wet Tropics. While this frog remains relatively common in lowland areas, it has virtually disappeared from high altitude habitats where it was once abundant. The most likely causative agent of the high altitude declines is the deadly chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which causes the skin disease chytridiomycosis. This fungus generally prefers the cooler temperatures associated with high altitudes. To make matters worse, high altitude amphibians are generally less resilient to environmental disturbances than are their lowland counterparts. This combination makes montane amphibians throughout the world highly susceptible to decline and extinction.



The Eastern Sedge Frog (Litoria fallax) is one of the most common frogs of eastern Australia. They are often found calling from sedges in suburban ponds. They have a very distinct ratchet-like call.



The Cascade Treefrog (Litoria pearsoniana) is a small frog that lives along rainforest streams in sub-tropical eastern Australia. These frogs have a large altitudinal range: they do equally well near sea level or in the high mountains. However, they are rarely found in the lowlands these days, as most lowland rainforest has been cleared.



Southern Orange-Eyed Treefrogs (Litoria chloris) -- Quite possibly the coolest frogs ever.



The Scarlet Sided Pobblebonk (Limnodynastes terrareginae) is easily distinguishable by the scarlet stripe on its sides, and its loud "bonk" call. They are often found in disturbed or swampy habitats.



The Tusked frog (Adelotus brevis) is the only Australian frog species in which males are generally larger than the females. Males use tusk-like protrusions in their lower mouth to fight. Females lay a foamy egg mass under rocks in rainforest streams, and often guard their egg mass. Tusked frogs have disappeared from about 1/3 of their native range.



Graceful Tree Frogs (Litoria gracilenta) are ephemeral breeders, meaning they are generally not found until a heavy rain, when they emerge en masse to breed in the temporary streams and ponds that form. Graceful Treefrogs are fairly small but can double their body size when they call. These frogs are fairly similar in appearance to the Southern Orange-eyed Treefrogs Litoria chloris, but are smaller and do not inhabit rainforests, as do the latter. I found this frog near the Tugun airport in southeast Queensland. The Tugun airport land harbors an amazing diversity and quantity of frogs, including endangered species. Unfortunately, a major highway is currently being built over top of these frogs' habitat.



Stony Creek Frogs (Litoria jungguy) are the most common frog inhabiting streams throughout eastern Australia, being found on virtually any rocky stream with little canopy cover. Males and females are brown for most of the year but males turn yellow when they are ready to breed.



The Striped Marsh Frog (Limnodynastes peronii) is a very common frog that inhabits lowland ponds and swamps throughout eastern Australia. Its popping sound is often heard in suburban areas, as it deals quite well with degraded habitats.



The descending cackle of the Emerald-Spotted Treefrog (Litoria peronii) is often heard at ponds in disturbed areas, though this frog is also occasionally found along rainforest streams.



The Striped Rocketfrog (Litoria nasuta) is a common frog at lowland ponds and streams in eastern Australia. The rocketfrogs are easily distinguishable by the vertical white stripe in front of their eye. This species can jump a distance equivalent to 55 times their body length!



The Leaf Green Treefrog (Litoria phyllochroa) is a common inhabitant of lowland streams in New South Wales. They are small and have a similar appearance to the Cascade Treefrog Litoria pearsoniana.



Fleay's Barred Frog (Mixophyes fleayi) is an endangered frog that lives in high altitude rainforests. Though most of their habitat is protected as national parks, this species underwent a severe decline in past decades, likely due to the arrival of a pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Of the five species in the genus Mixophyes, four are threatened with extinction.



Painted Burrowing Frogs (Neobatrachus sudelli) live in dry forests and disturbed areas of southeastern Australia. They can spend a large part of the year burrowed underground, awaiting a large rain. I found this frog near Lake Broadwater in southeast Queensland's outback.



There are a lot more awesome frog photos on our site, www.savethefrogs.com, and don't forget to check out our cool 24" x 36" Frogs of Australia posters:



All proceeds from sales of the poster go to SAVE THE FROGS!

Here's a cool frog sex video (technically called amplexus):



Why are frogs important?

Frogs are an integral part of the food web:
Tadpoles keep waterways clean by feeding on algae. Adult frogs eat large quantities of insects, including disease vectors that can transmit fatal illnesses to humans (i.e. mosquitoes/malaria). Frogs also serve as an important food source to a diverse array of predators, including dragonflies, fish, snakes, birds and even monkeys. Thus, the disappearance of frog populations disturbs an intricate food web, and results in negative impacts that cascade through the ecosystem.

Frogs are bioindicators:
Most frogs require suitable habitat in both the terrestrial and aquatic environments, and have permeable skin that can easily absorb toxic chemicals. These traits make frogs especially susceptible to environmental disturbances, and thus frogs are considered accurate indicators of environmental stress: the health of frogs is thought to be indicative of the health of the biosphere as a whole. Frogs are currently disappearing at a more rapid rate than any animals in the past 65 million years: this should serve as an alarm call to humans that something is drastically wrong in the environment.

Humans use frogs in medicinal research:
Frogs produce a wide array of skin secretions, many of which have significant potential to improve human health through their use as pharmaceuticals. When a frog species disappears, so does any promise it holds for improving human medicine.

Frogs are cool!
Frogs provide a source of enjoyment and cultural fascination to humans and it would be morally irresponsible to allow them to continue on their current extinction trajectory.

SUMMARY
Frogs are cool and we need them! They need our help too, so let’s SAVE THE FROGS!

Finally, please donate to SAVE THE FROGS! so that we can fund important amphibian conservation work worldwide: even $5 would be great! http://www.savethefrogs.com