EFA: Etsy For Animals Etsy For Animals: April is National Frog Month !


Etsy for Animals (EFA) aka Artists Helping Animals,

is a team of independent artists, craftspeople,

vintage sellers and craft suppliers on Etsy.com

who are dedicated to providing charitable relief to animals

by donating a portion of the profits from their shops

to an animal charity of their choosing,

and/or to EFA's featured Charity of the Month.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

April is National Frog Month !


The World's Smallest & Largest Frogs
written by Rebecca of PurpleandLime



Frogs have fascinated me since I was a child. I collected frog stuffed animals, plastic toys, pencils, pillows, and much more until they filled my bedroom. In fact, some of the first items I listed on Etsy were necklaces made from my childhood plastic frog toys!


In honor of National Frog Month here’s some info about the world’s largest and smallest frogs. The size difference is amazing, and much more extreme than I expected!


First, the world’s smallest…




One of the smallest frogs in the world is the Microhyla nepenthicola, which was previously thought to be a baby of another species! It is small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil and is roughly the size of a pea (so cute!).


The “species was spotted inside and around pitcher plants in Malaysian rain forests on the island of Borneo, which is divided among Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.





Another itty-bitty frog is “a member of the Noblella genus” and lives in the Andes Mountains of Peru. “Females grow to 0.49 inch (12.4 millimeters) at most. Males make it to only 0.44 inch (11.1 millimeters).” Perhaps their diminutive size has allowed them to live undetected for so many years, and as they are so tiny they aren’t hunted or used by humans.



And now for the largest...




The world’s largest frog is known as the “Goliath frog” (Conraua goliath), and it “may grow up to 3 feet long when it is stretched out and can weigh as much as a newborn baby, about 7 lbs (3.2 kg)!


They are native to the rainforests of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea in Africa. “Unlike most other frogs and toads, Goliath frogs have no vocal sac and so courtship does not involve displaying any calls. They mainly eat crabs, but will also eat insects and smaller frogs. The Goliath frog can live up to 15 years.”





Unfortunately they are now considered an endangered species due to human consumption, habitat loss, and the pet trade. Children also keep them as pets, just like a dog or a cat. “The IUCN (The International Union for Conservation of Nature) sites Goliath frogs as an endangered species because of a 50% decline in population size in the last three generations.” In the future, the “only real hope for these amphibian wizards is the preservation of their rainforest home.



RESOURCE INFORMATION

http://news.nationalgeographic.com

http://frogsaregreen.com/3345/goliath-frog-the-worlds-biggest-frog

6 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness - that is a huge frog! I love frogs too and really enjoyed this post - thank you!

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  2. Fascinating, Rebecca :)
    The size difference is absolutely HUGE... wow !

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  3. Hooray for Frog Month! What a fantastic article. I'm having a Frog Month celebration over on my blog too. Thanks for spreading the word about frogs in danger! :D

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  4. That was truly interesting! Can you imagine a frog like that jumping after you! LOL! Great post - thank you!

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  5. Holy sheepdip! That's one huge frog!!!
    Makes Boogie and Whiskers look puny...

    ReplyDelete
  6. glad you like the article! it was very fun to write...

    I'm donating 50% from the sale of my Tree Frog Necklace to Froglife Reptile and Amphibian Charity (http://www.froglife.org/).

    ReplyDelete

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