The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

Valerie, Leslie and I helping Gene perform surgery on one of the Garden Bullfrog's leg For those of you that remember Romeo - the personable Bullfrog from the Aquatic Pond ... His leg surgery, which was necessary as the result of a bird or turtle bite, was 4 years ago today! Dedicated volunteer and retired physician, Gene performed the surgery, which Romeo fully recovered from despite now being a tripod. While he still had all of his legs, Romeo was known for approaching visitors, eating bugs right out of your hand, and on this blog is footage of him swimming up and jumping right into the hand of former Amphibian Conservation Scientist at the Garden - Dante Fenolio. To see all the posts on Romeo, including the footage of him swimming up and jumping into Dante's hand, click the link below: Romeo the Bullfrog

Hi Mark. A frog friend and I were at the lily pond today and it was rife with tadpoles of various sizes and stages. Two questions: 1) It looked like the two ducks might be feeding on them ... do they? 2) How many tadpoles actually survive to frog adulthood? — Christine C. This particular topic has come up a lot recently, and one of our visitors beautifully photographed a heron eating a rather large bullfrog out of the lily pond in the Children's Garden . It was a graphic interaction, but demonstrates how vital amphibians are in food webs and one of the reasons we use to illustrate how important it is to keep amphibians around. Almost everything eats them, or their tadpoles, or their eggs ... or all three.  Many animals eat frogs exclusively (including some frog species!), and the herons at the Garden obviously love them. I have seen ducks eating tadpoles quite rapidly. In fact, my amphibian class last summer quantified how quickly different aquatic birds could ...

'Romeo' seems to be resting comfortably in the Sibley Fountain. Stop by and check in on him!

For those of you following the progress of our Bullfrog ( Lithobates catesbeianus ) after his recent leg surgery .... He is holding steady, eating regularly and beginning to act like a Bullfrog again. He is not completely out of the woods yet, but if attitude means anything, his prospects looks good. On Tuesday, 'Romeo' as he was named by Val (his original rescuer and Curator of Aquatic Ponds) underwent his second surgery to attempt to heal his poor leg. This time, staff and volunteers from the Conservatory, Conservation and Horticulture departments all contributed to Romeo's recovery (photos by Julia Rittenhouse). Val comforted Romeo, as I held the light while once again, Gene did the hard part. A concerned Anthony wanted to be there and make sure Romeo pulled through ok ... and he did! Romeo is quite a trooper, and again, he seemed to know we are trying to help him. This afternoon, and Anthony is feeling good about Romeo's progress.

Frogs — being an important part of our ecosystem — are a favorite food for a host of natural predators such as birds, turtles, snakes and even other frogs. The Bullfrogs inhabiting the various outdoor aquatic ponds at the Garden are no different, and this week one of our favorite Bullfrogs from the Aquatic Plant Pond almost fell prey to an unknown predator! He was found Thursday morning with one of its hind legs bitten almost completely off. Here is our 'V.I.F' last August, showing the telltale oblong tympanum which, along with his bizzarre behaviors,  distinguishes him from the other amphibian inhabitants of the Aquatic Plants Pond. A Garden visitor holding the subject of this blog post and the friendliest Bullfrog I have ever seen. This particular Bullfrog gained some popularity last August when it became the Garden's first V.I.F. (to quote Val, the amazing Curator of Aquatic Plants). Last year, he displayed some very un-frog-like qualities when he actually ...

The Aquatic Plants pond at The Garden Dante Fenolio, Amphibian Conservation Scientist here at the Garden, might also be called "The Frog Whisperer' as he dazzled visitors this Sunday with his skill at calling a male Bullfrog | Lithobates catesbeianus over to him from the aquatic plants pond. Seeing is believing! After he came over to Dante, Garden visitors were holding the friendly frog for photo opps. The Bullfrog climbed right up on Dante's hand! Here he is approaching us Dante's daughter, Sierra bravely holding the large frog for pictures Sierra is very happy holding the large bullfrog After the photos were taken, one of the visitors released him back into his pond