March 27/2019

Feature:
8 Ways to Help this Save the Frogs Day

“Since 2009, frog lovers from around the world have celebrated Save the Frogs Day on April 28, taking part in events & other activities to help raise awareness about the importance of our amphibian friends & ways to help protect them & their homes…

According to Save the Frogs!...as many as 200 species have disappeared from the landscape since just 1980, while nearly 1/3 of the world’s amphibian species are currently threatened with extinction. Some of the major threats they now face include habitat loss, disease, pollution, climate change, invasive species, & over-harvesting for the pet & food trades, & for many species these threats overlap, compounding their seriousness…

ATTEND AN EVENT

…people are hosting events around the world to educate people about frogs & how to help them…

SAVE WATER, SAVE FROGS

The water we use every day has to come from somewhere, & the places we take it from are diverting it from prime frog habitats. Conserving water & wasting less hot water, will help save energy & save some for them. Choosing tap water over bottled water will also conserve resources frogs need, & comes with the added bonus of keeping an unholy amount of plastic from entering our environment.

DON’T LET THE PET TRADE CAUSE MORE HARM

Millions of frogs are sold around the world for the pet trade…Not only is taking frogs from the wild harming their populations, many die during transport, while the largely unregulated trade is spreading infectious diseases that pose a deadly threat to wild frogs. Unwanted pet frogs who are released into the wild can also wreak havoc on local ecosystems.

EAT LIKE YOU LOVE FROGS

Frog legs might not be a staple of anyone’s diet in the U.S., but an appetite for them… is driving over-harvesting & pushing multiple species towards extinction. The trade in both frog legs & live frogs is also helping spread the deadly chytrid fungus, which has already caused frog extinctions around the world. Even if frogs are farm-raised, non-native frogs can escape, introduce diseases to native populations, & become an invasive species, causing even more trouble.

Eating like you love frogs, goes beyond just not eating them. Choosing plant-based foods that take less land & resources than needed for the livestock industry can also help preserve their homes & conserve the water they need.

DON’T DISSECT THEM

…Fortunately, animal advocates have gained a lot of ground on this front, & many classrooms have turned to humane alternatives. For more about why to say no to dissections, & alternatives available, check out Digital Frog 2.5, & the National Anti-Vivisection Society & the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, which both offer information about alternatives an& ways to lobby your lawmakers to pass student choice laws that support everyone’s right to choose alternatives.

SHARE THE ROAD

Frogs have places to go too, but with the number of roads & cars on them, they’re playing a real-live version of Frogger, & the death toll is high. Fortunately, people are taking action by helping them get across, whether it’s just slowing down, or putting up signs, to patrolling areas they’re known migrate & helping them get across safely.

MAKE YOUR BACKYARD, & COMMUNITY, FRIENDLY FOR FROGS

Pesticides are a major threat to frogs, & other wildlife, but they’re widely used on both private & public properties. You can help by choosing to use other wildlife-friendly gardening practices at home, & encouraging your cities to do the same. You can also help at home by creating mini wetlands by building frog ponds, & protect them from drowning if you have a pool by putting in devices that will help frogs, & other animals, climb out.

VOLUNTEER

Whether you want to fundraise for frogs, help promote education about frogs in schools & your community, or get your hands dirty restoring frog habitats, there are a lot of ways to help by volunteering with organizations like Save the Frogs, or other conservation & wildlife advocacy groups in your area.”

Alicia Graef

April 27/ 2018

Care2.com

                           
Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

March 20/2019

Feature:

Zoo’s 4 New Baby Cheetahs Will Be Spotted For First Time

“Quebec’s cheetah population continues to grow following 4 births at Parc Safari in Hemmingford…

The new additions, females Imani & Ilanga & males Bemba & Malik, joined the 13   felines already housed in the park’s Cheetah Research & Reproduction Centre…They were named in honour of the animal’s African heritage.

The Quebec zoo took in 8 animals from South Africa in 2013…Since then, the cheetah centre’s population has more than doubled through a combination of births & animal transfers between centres across North America.

The 2 cubs, Mosi & Jelanie, joined the zoo’s cheetah coalition a year earlier in May 2017 as the first born in the province, followed by another litter of 2 in July in the same year.

While the first birth at the centre required human intervention…Imani, Ilanga, Bemba, & Malik’s births were completely natural- something zoo staff are feeling especially proud about.

With a dwindling worldwide population year after year, each new litter of cheetahs is ‘very, very important’.

…’It’s very important to keep a healthy population in captivity, so maybe one day we’ll be able to reintroduce (cheetahs) into the wild.’

…it’s challenging to breed cheetahs, partially due to a lack of genetic diversity in the species, low fertility rates in males, & the invasive nature of artificial insemination, which requires surgery. Of more than 30 North American centres involved in the Species Survival Program…only16 have been successful in breeding the animals.

…once the cubs have matured, after a year to 18 months, they’ll probably be transferred to other centres where a new bloodline is needed.”

Kelsey Litwin

The Gazette, Montreal

July 13/2018

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

March 13/2019

Feature:
Tiny & Cute

“Chameleon Cutie

The world’s smallest chameleon, the Brookesia micra chameleon lives on the island of

Madagascar. Adult males grow to only about a half-inch (16mm) from nose to tail…                                                            

A Frog the Size of a Fly…

The Paedophryne amanuensis frog is about the size of a housefly. It is so tiny that it can

fit on a grape. It measures only about a third of an inch or 7.7 mm long. 

                            

How a Scientist Discovered the Tiny Frog

Christopher Austin is a herpetologist- a scientist that studies reptiles & amphibians. He

wanted to find the animal making an unusual ‘tink-tink-tink’ sound in the tropical forest

of Papua New Guinea. He heard the noise coming from some dead leaves on the forest

floor. He looked & looked  but couldn’t find any animals. He grabbed a clump of the

leaves & put them into a bag. Back at his camp, he checked each of the hundreds of

leaves in the bag. Imagine his surprise when a tiny animal hopped off one of the leaves. It

was a tiny frog that no one had ever seen before.

Madame Berthe’s Mouse Lemur

The world’s smallest primate weighs only 1 ounce (30g)…It is called Madame Berthe’s

mouse lemur. While the cute critter is super tiny, it has large eyes which help it see at

night & a tail that is longer than its body.

                                   

Bee Hummingbird

It’s the smallest bird in the world & weighs less than 2 ounces (57g)…It’s tiny but

powerful. It can flap its little wings 80 times per second!”
                                            

The Gazette, Montreal

Jan. 7/2019

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

March 6/2019

Feature:

Pet Shelter From Loud Storms

     “Skittish pets might soon be able to rest easy during stressful events like thunderstorms & outdoor fireworks. The European branch of Ford- yes, the car company- has developed a noise-cancelling doghouse using the same technology as in the company’s Edge SUV.

     When kennel’s microphones detect high noise levels, the sounds are counteracted with opposing sound waves from the built-in audio system.

     The kennel also uses a lot of high-density cork to help with the soundproofing.

     ‘Many animals find fireworks scary,’ said well-known UK dog trainer Graeme Hall.

     Right now, the doghouse is just a prototype as a part of Ford’s series of initiatives called Interventions, & there’s no word as to when the kennels would hit the market.”

Melissa Hank

The Gazette, Montreal

Jan. 12/2019

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

Memorial