BRAZIL is one of three most biologically diverse countries in the world, the others being Indonesia and South Africa. It must still have vast stretches of unexplored territory, because it is always yielding remarkable wildlife secrets.
This time it’s been reported that no fewer than seven new species of frog have been discovered by Brazilian scientists in remote cloud forests on the country’s mountainous southern coastline.
The new frogs are all tiny, in fact quite possibly the smallest frogs ever recorded, and are all members of the Brachycephalus genus, a genus we do not appear to have in South Africa.
The largest of them measures just 13mm in length – you must all do your own calculation, but that is about the size of the nail on my index finger.
Some of them are unique to a specific mountain, and it doesn’t come much more specialised than that, and they have all evolved to have fewer fingers and toes than other frogs. *
The previous record for the world’s smallest is for a specimen from the island of Borneo, measuring in at 15mm. I haven’t been able to confirm this, but South Africa’s smallest frog would appear to be the Hogsback frog (Anhydrophryne rattrayi, sometimes known as Rattray’s forest frog) obviously restricted to Hogsback and the surrounding Amatola Mountains. He chips in at 20-22mm.**
I can remember some years back staying at a lodge in a private game reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal that specialised in frogging safaris.
We were intrigued and signed up.
By way of preparation in the early evening we were all kitted out with gum boots and head torches and given a briefing on what to expect, which included a warning that the wetland into which we were about to wade was also frequented by crocodiles and hippos, so we should not assume that every large splash we heard was a large frog taking to the water.
It was an extraordinary evening. Our two accompanying rangers were both expert froggers and were only too happy to share their knowledge with us and needless to say we were all soon in well over gum boot depth and very aware of large splashes.
With their help we saw and identified lots of frogs, many of them reed frogs (it was a wetland, after all) and learned a great deal about them and their habitat.
The evening ended standing in the lights of the Land Rover, boots squelching, with a picnic hamper and a glass of something appropriate, a very different game reserve experience indeed.
And finally, have a good evening, whatever you’re planning. We shall watch the Edinburgh Tattoo on DVD for the umpteenth time and hopefully there may be a piece of haggis accompanied by a glass of something appropriate.
As far as the New Year is concerned, let’s just wish for Kgotso! Pula! Peace and Rain! Cheers….
*The Week, The Best of the British and Foreign Media.
**Frogs and Frogging in Southern Africa, Vincent Carruthers, Struik, Cape Town, 2001.
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