Posts

Showing posts with the label amphibian

A Star Frog!

Image
Tree frog on a flower, Lake Kissimmee, Florida, USA The charming prince?  Charming princess, rather.. Perched on the petals of a Nymphaea, on Lake Kissimmee in Florida, we thought this little frog quite interesting to watch.  In the United States, these little amphibians are celebrated during the month of the frog which pays homage to all the frogs in the world, which represents no less than 4,000 species!  Among the different kinds of frogs, this little tree frog is favored by most of us, no doubt because of its small size, funny face and the fact that it requires very little attention.  Some of the American gardens are populated by it and it is even the official reptile of Louisiana and Georgia!  A star frog, what.

A Leap On A Leap Day!

Image
A Wallace's flying frog glides to the forest floor It's leap day! For leap day (the extra day added to February every four years), we're looking at a Wallace's flying frog. Also known as parachute frogs, these critters live in the tropical jungles of Malaysia and Borneo. They spend most of their time in trees, gliding down to the ground to mate and lay eggs. They 'fly' by leaping and using their webbed fingers and toes to glide as far as 15 metres. Leap years keep our calendar (the Gregorian calendar) aligned with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. People often refer to a calendar year as a 'trip around the sun', but that trip takes longer than the 365 days of a typical calendar year. It really takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds. Adding an extra day every four years solves the problem - almost. To keep our calendar mostly synchronised with the astronomical year, some further adjustments need to take place. Years tha...

Pinzon Island Tortoise And Darwin Day

Image
Pinzon Island tortoise hatchling emerging from its egg at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.