![]() Could the same phenomenon be happening here? Will the croaking chorus of frogs by the bach water tank, or show-and-tell tadpoles in Agee jars on school window-sills, become images of New Zealand past? Reports from around the world suggest that once abundant frog species have been vanishing. It had been a dry year, to be sure, but the previous summer had been wet, and the frogs were just as scarce. The frog just annihilated was only the third I had seen this summer. Now the chirps of crickets, hoots of moreporks and occasional coughs and squeals of possums are the main sounds to ruffle the quietness of the dark. Out in the farmland where I live, a decade ago the WOOOG, woog wog wog of frogs was chief among the noises of the summer night, and encountering up to half a dozen frogs taking their chances on the road was not unusual. ![]() In our century, frogs have endeared themselves to us in the form of the froggie who went a’courtin’, Burl Ives’ little green frog on his lily pad, and, of course, Kermit-Muppet extraordinaire, cultural ambassador and, recently, presidential candidate. In fairy-tale times, kind princesses regularly kissed frogs and were rewarded by the amphibian metamorphosing into a handsome prince beneath their lips. They don’t move fast enough to frighten us, and their big eyes, lugubrious mouths and “hands” give them a benevolent-even humanoid-appearance. Though they have a somewhat alien aspect to them, they are much more endearing than, say, a rat or a spider. I was sorry about the demise of the frog. “Couldn’t you have swerved or something?” I plaintively asked my daughter, a newly fledged driver. ![]() I winced as it went under the car, and imagined the squelch. The pale, slender shape was at full stretch half a metre above the rough gravel, bravely leaping towards some destination it would never reach. ![]() The car’s headlights swung over the knob and down into the hollow of the road, catching the frog in mid-jump. Although air-breathers (like all adult frogs), they seem most at home immersed in water with only eyes, nostrils and ears (visible below and behind the eye) monitoring the terrestrial world above. New Zealand’s commonest frogs are the green and golden bell frog (below) and the very similar southern bell frog, both introduced from Australia around 1870. Written by Warren Judd Photographed by Michael Schneider, Brian Chudleigh, Darryl Torckler and Robin Bush ![]()
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