amphibians

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Got Milk? This Amphibian Does
Got Milk? This
Amphibian Does
NEW STUDY
Mar 8, 2024 9:18 AM CST

Got Milk? This Amphibian Does

Scientists say wormlike caecilians offer this surprising sustenance to their young, like mammals

(Newser) - Researchers already knew that baby ringed caecilians, a wormlike amphibian that lives burrowed underneath the earth, gain some of their nutrition by feeding on the skin of their own mother once or twice a week. But when a team out of Brazil studying the creature (also known as Siphonops annulatus)...

Faced With Unwanted Mating, Female Frogs Fake Death
Faced With Unwanted Mating,
Female Frogs Fake Death
NEW STUDY
Oct 13, 2023 10:37 AM CDT

Faced With Unwanted Mating, Female Frogs Fake Death

'Surprising' behavior thought to help females escape from potentially deadly 'mating balls'

(Newser) - European common frogs often mate in what's called a "mating ball." In an attempt to reproduce, males seek out and cling to outnumbered females, even those already singled out by other males, in a potentially deadly struggle. As Science reports, females risk injury or drowning if unable...

Frog Mystery Surfaces at Iron Age Settlement
Frog Mystery
Surfaces at
Iron Age
Settlement
new study
Jun 15, 2022 3:58 PM CDT

Frog Mystery Surfaces at Iron Age Settlement

Archaeologists can't explain their bones at ancient site

(Newser) - Excavations carried out ahead of highway work in England have revealed a mass grave full of … long-dead frogs. Experts are at a loss to explain the mass of 8,000 bones from roughly 350 frogs and toads, found buried in a long ditch beside an excavated roundhouse at Bar...

After 9-Year Fight, Couple Ordered to Dump Superloud Frogs

French couple still hopes to save their pond and its breeding amphibians

(Newser) - A French couple is being forced to drain their pond under court order because of the racket caused by its breeding frogs. The outcome is the result of a nine-year legal battle in which Michel and Annie Pecheras fought to save their pond in the small village of Grignols, Dordogne....

Rare 'Snoring' Frogs Found in Place They Shouldn't Be

Nearly a dozen threatened Chiricahua leopard frogs spotted in central Ariz., not their usual haunt

(Newser) - A rare frog has been found beyond its known range in the Southwest. A US Forest Service volunteer recently photographed a Chiricahua leopard frog in an earthen stock tank near the town of Camp Verde in central Arizona. Biologists later confirmed that at least 10 of the frogs were living...

Deadliest Pathogen in History Is Taking a Toll on Frogs

Fungus has wiped out 90 species of amphibians and caused decline in 500 more

(Newser) - Biologist Wendy Palen says "it now earns the moniker of the most deadly pathogen known to science." She's referring to an amphibian fungus responsible for wiping out at least 90 species in recent decades, reports the New York Times . It's called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or Bd, and...

Company Paid $25K to Name 4-Inch Critter After Trump

Worm-like 'Dermophis donaldtrumpi' buries its head in the sand

(Newser) - A UK-based company paid $25,000 to name a newly discovered amphibian after President Trump. Hence the Dermophis donaldtrumpi, a small, blind caecilian that buries its head in the sand. On climate change, so does the president, according to Aidan Bell, co-founder of sustainable building materials company EnviroBuild, which bid...

Scientists Await Rare 'Dragon' Birth in Slovenia

3 olm eggs show promise in Postojna Cave

(Newser) - When humans in the 15th century encountered olms—rare amphibians that have been roaming Earth's caves for 200 million years—they thought they were baby dragons. Today we know little more about the blind creatures than our ancestors did. Olms inhabit the cave rivers of the Balkans, grow up...

Zoo Says It's Got Earth's Longest Salamander

Oh, you know, just a normal 5-foot-2 amphibian

(Newser) - Prague Zoo says it likely has the longest Chinese giant salamander now on Earth. The critically endangered animal is the largest amphibian on the planet. In a statement Sunday, the zoo says Karlo, a Chinese giant salamander it received 19 months ago from the State Museum of Natural History in...

Our Salamanders May Be in Trouble

Scientists cite Asian fungus, lack of biosecurity

(Newser) - When a fungus that has coexisted with amphibians in Asia for 30 million years recently found its way to the Netherlands, only 10 fire salamanders managed to escape death there. The fungus eats the skin, and that tends to prove fatal because amphibians perform much of their respiration through their...

Frogs Disappearing Faster Than Thought

Federal survey shows scary decline in amphibians

(Newser) - Scientists have been worried about the decline in amphibians for years now, and the most comprehensive federal survey of its kind has some bad news: Things are worse than they thought. Researchers from the US Geological Survey found that frogs, salamanders, and amphibians of all kinds are disappearing at an...

Scientists Find New Species of Amphibians

Limbless creatures look like earthworms

(Newser) - Scientists have unearthed a brand-new, weird-looking species of amphibians in northeastern India. The creatures, named chikilidae, live deep in the dirt and are limbless, reports Nature , which notes that they look more like worms than, say, frogs or salamanders. “The discovery adds a major branch to the amphibian tree...

Paedophryne amauensis, World's Smallest Frog, Found in Papua New Guinea
 World's Smallest Frog Found 
Jan 12, 2012 5:33 AM CST

World's Smallest Frog Found

Tiny amphibian discovered in Papua New Guinea

(Newser) - A species of frog so tiny that several of them could fit on a fingernail with room to spare has been found hopping around the forests of Papua New Guinea. At 0.27 inches long, Paedophryne amauensis is the smallest frog ever discovered and, by some measures, is the world'...

Pea-Size Frog Found in Borneo

Tiny amphibian lives in carnivorous plants

(Newser) - The smallest frog ever discovered outside the Americas has been found dwelling inside a carnivorous plant in the jungles of Borneo. The tiny amphibians, just under half an inch long, were discovered by chance by researchers making their way up a mountain road. They tracked the pea-size frog by following...

Scientists Discover Screaming Tadpole

Sound saves frog larvae from being cannibalized

(Newser) - Scientists studying the calls of adult Argentine horned frogs were amazed to discover that the species' larvae also make sounds—screams even, reports the Independent . The tadpole's scream is a "brief, clear and very audible metallic-like sound," say researchers. They believe the distress calls save the tadpoles from...

Amphibious Caterpillars Can Live Underwater for Weeks

Creature may breathe through bodily pores

(Newser) - Researchers in Hawaii have discovered several species of caterpillars that live underwater for weeks at at time. What's more remarkable is that insects don't have gills—or hold their breath. Other amphibious creatures that survive under water store oxygen in their lungs. These guys don't. "I couldn't believe it,...

Aussies Find 'Extinct' Bell Frog
 Aussies Find 'Extinct' Bell Frog 
UN-CROAKED
Mar 4, 2010 12:33 PM CST

Aussies Find 'Extinct' Bell Frog

Amphibian was thought to be wiped out in 1970s by fungus

(Newser) - The yellow-spotted bell frog was thought to be wiped out in the 1970s when a deadly fungus invaded its native Australian habitat—until now. That’s right—the “extinct” species has been discovered in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, alive and well. “It was quite amazing,...

Salamanders Get Help Crossing the Road

To mate! With some help from human friends

(Newser) - Salamanders are getting an assist this mating season from volunteers who shepherd them across dangerous highways, the AP reports. Hundreds try to cross between forests and vernal pools this time of year, and human escorts—also known as bucket brigades—have popped up along the East Coast to keep them...

Frog Pizza Storms London
 Frog Pizza Storms London 
Oct 16, 2008 9:00 PM CDT

Frog Pizza Storms London

'The Hopper' has UK animal activists croaking mad

(Newser) - London restaurant chain Eco has animal-rights activists hopping mad over its newest pizza, the Sun reports. Called “The Hopper,” the pie contains 8 frogs legs with capers and anchovies. British group Animal Aid is urging a boycott of Eco because harvesters of frogs’ legs usually cut them off...

Half of Europe's Frog Species May Croak

Habitat loss, climate change, disease likely to wipe out amphibian species

(Newser) - Half of all of Europe's amphibian species could be doomed to extinction within the next few decades, scientists warn. Habitat loss and climate change are already wiping out huge numbers of frogs, toads, newts and salamanders, the Independent reports. The situation has been exacerbated by a skin disease that has...

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