Newspaper Clippings
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New Respect for Nature's Cool Creature
Published: Wednesday, February 27th 2008.
Written by Scott McKeen of the Edmonton Journal.
Frogs might be symbol that grabs our attention over environmental ills.
Threatening to escape from me is an unmanly, ungodly, angry-baby shriek. I'm doing everything possible to stifle my revulsion reflex. But I'm telling you, I've got the willies and the heebie-jeebies. I manage, barely, to not fling this wiggly, cadaverish thing away from me and run for the hills. My audience, three women, seem fascinated by this reaction in a grown man.
In my hands is a slippery and secreting, zombie-skinned thing with suction-cup fingers. It starts to wiggle, squirm and ... Arrahhhh.
For the record, I didn't scream. Or squeal. But I believe I made an involuntary sound. Not a man sound, to be sure. Certainly not a proud sound. More like the sound of primal disgust.
Some people apparently love frogs. Me? I once tried eating one of their hind appendages at a swiss restaurant once. Disgusting.
Admittedly, frogs are fun to watch. They hippety-hop. Their chin waddles puff in and out as they breathe. They make ribbety sounds, eat mosquitoes and make a nice muppet. And it's the Year of the Frog. So here I am, down at the Valley Zoo to visit zookeeper Andi Sime, naturalist Juanita Spence and this wiggly, bug-eyed tree frog in my hands. Spence was kind enough to pick it up first. Seems frogs tend to poop when first handled. Discourages frog eaters.
The Year of the Frog is an international effort to help raise consciousness about the plight of these foundational species.
It's an overused phrase these days, but frogs are the "canaries in the coal mine" of planet Earth. Of the 6,000 or so recognized species of frogs and toads, 3,000 are threatened. Frogs are crucial because they are both prey and predator. Thus, they are an indicator species, pointing to the health of ecosystems. And what their decline indicates is that reckless development, climate change and industrial pollution is slowly killing the natural world, frogs first.
But if there is any good news here it's that humans tend to be fond of frogs. The frog might be the symbolic species that catches our attention about environmental degradation. Frogs are cool, literally and figuratively. They come in a range of hues. Some are poisonous. Alberta's wood tree frog has blood chemistry that allows it to freeze solid as a puck in winter, then thaw out and hop away in spring.
"People are endeared with frogs," says Spence. "Almost everyone has a childhood frog story."
The Valley Zoo, along with the John Janzen Nature Centre, are targeting kids in its contributions to Year of the Frog. Their programs in coming months will show kids how to identify and monitor frog populations.
They'll also teach children about the importance to frogs of wetlands and water conservation. The zoo also wants to teach people the dangers of releasing non-native, pet-shop frogs into the wild.
As well, families will be shown how the can make their back yards frog-friendly, to increase habitat in the urban environment. According to Spence, any yard will do, so long as its got a pond and the necessary vegetation. Build it, they will hop.
The zoo is also bringing in a number of exotic frog species, including the tomato frog, the beautiful mantella and the African clawed frog. It's also participating in a program to protect and breed threatened species, with the hope of one day returning the frogs to reclaimed habitat.
To save the frogs we need to save the earth.
Selfishly, I want frogs to survive so I can one day watch my grandchildren hold one in their hands. Mind you, I think I'll watch from a distance.
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