Science Diary: Frogs – Quarantine

music; ambience: common green tree frog

“This fellow, he goes by the name of Mr. Livermore. And he’s twenty-four years old. All you’ve gotta do, of course, is to catch plenty of live food for them. They love crickets, cockroaches.”

Welcome to Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. Right now we’re inside the home of Dr. Arthur White, an Australian frog biologist who shares his residence with dozens of rescued frogs.

“I’m associated with a group called the Frog and Tadpole Study Group of New South Wales. And one of their activities is a frog rescue service. In Sydney we have a lot of frogs that come in accidentally, primarily in the back of trucks carrying produce, and in the past a lot of these frogs had to actually be put down because of quarantine reasons. However, we’ve negotiated with the authorities to be able to collect these frogs, quarantine them, have them inspected and so on, and now made available for people who want to uh, basically look after them. So this is really a halfway house for many lost frogs.”

In a quarantine shed behind his house, Dr. White monitors a new arrival of endangered Green and Golden bell frogs.

ambience: green & golden bell frogs

“We have unfortunately picked up a number of exotic frog diseases in this country. So, all of these frogs have to, uh, unfortunately bide their time in quarantine. The water that they have out in all of these bowls contains, um, some anti-fungal agents and it’s basically targeting these two main exotic diseases that we’re aware of. These frogs were rescued from a suburban backyard. They were collected as tadpoles, and we’ve basically reared them up so that they’ve now turned into little frogs. If everything comes back clear, then of course they’re, they’re free then to go off to a good home.”

Arthur White has discovered new species of frogs; and we’ll hear more in future programs.

Please visit our website, pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries are made possible by the National Science Foundation.

Science Diary: Frogs - Quarantine

Endangered tadpoles found! Call the Frog Rescue Service; they’ll pick them up, nurture them, and find them suitable homes.
Air Date:02/27/2012
Scientist:
Transcript:


music; ambience: common green tree frog

“This fellow, he goes by the name of Mr. Livermore. And he's twenty-four years old. All you've gotta do, of course, is to catch plenty of live food for them. They love crickets, cockroaches.”

Welcome to Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. Right now we’re inside the home of Dr. Arthur White, an Australian frog biologist who shares his residence with dozens of rescued frogs.

“I'm associated with a group called the Frog and Tadpole Study Group of New South Wales. And one of their activities is a frog rescue service. In Sydney we have a lot of frogs that come in accidentally, primarily in the back of trucks carrying produce, and in the past a lot of these frogs had to actually be put down because of quarantine reasons. However, we've negotiated with the authorities to be able to collect these frogs, quarantine them, have them inspected and so on, and now made available for people who want to uh, basically look after them. So this is really a halfway house for many lost frogs.”

In a quarantine shed behind his house, Dr. White monitors a new arrival of endangered Green and Golden bell frogs.

ambience: green & golden bell frogs

“We have unfortunately picked up a number of exotic frog diseases in this country. So, all of these frogs have to, uh, unfortunately bide their time in quarantine. The water that they have out in all of these bowls contains, um, some anti-fungal agents and it's basically targeting these two main exotic diseases that we're aware of. These frogs were rescued from a suburban backyard. They were collected as tadpoles, and we've basically reared them up so that they've now turned into little frogs. If everything comes back clear, then of course they're, they're free then to go off to a good home.”

Arthur White has discovered new species of frogs; and we’ll hear more in future programs.

Please visit our website, pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries are made possible by the National Science Foundation.