Green Frog (true frog family)

Order Anura, Family Ranidae. These are typical frogs with adults being truly amphibious, living at the edge of water bodies and entering the water to catch prey, flee danger, and spawn. This profile covers medium-sized ranids. Also, all frogs are somewhat poisonous to some degree, but most of them aren't harmful to humans.

Description

The green frog (Rana clamitans) is usually found near shallow freshwater throughout much of eastern North America. Two subspecies are recognized: R. c. clamitans (the bronze frog; ranges from the Carolinas to northern Florida, west to eastern Texas, and north along the Mississippi Valley to the mouth of the Ohio River). However, the R. c. melanota (the green frog; ranges from southeastern Canada to North Carolina, west to Minnesota and Oklahoma but rare in much of Illinois and Indiana, introduced into British Columbia, Washington, and Utah.

Body Size

The green frog is a medium-sized ranid usually between 5.7 and 8.9 cm snout-to-vent length. Its growing period is mainly confined to the period between mid-May and mid-September. But the females are generally larger than males. But the adults typically weigh between 30 and 70 g. The average lifespan of Green Frog is approximately 16 years, fairly long compared with other frogs.

Habitat

Adult green frogs live at the margins of permanent or semi-permanent shallow water, springs, swamps, streams, ponds, and lakes. Green frogs primarily to inhabitant the banks of streams. They also can be found among rotting debris of fallen trees. Juveniles prefer shallower aquatic habitats with denser vegetation than those preferred by adults. Moreover, Green frogs inhabited aquatic habitats about two-thirds of the time and terrestrial habitats the remaining time. The green frog relies on terrestrial habitats for feeding and aquatic habitats for refuge from desiccation, temperature extremes, and enemies. Ponds used by green frogs are usually more permanent than those used by other anuran species.

Food Habits

Adult R. clamitansare terrestrial feeders among shoreline vegetation. They consume insects, worms, small fish, crayfish, other crustaceans, newts, spiders, small frogs, and molluscs. The terrestrial beetles often are their most important food item but noted that any locally abundant insect along the shoreline may be consumed in large numbers. There is a pronounced reduction in food consumption during the breeding period for both males and females. During the breeding season, males spend most of their energy defending breeding territories, and

Green Frog females expend their energy producing eggs. Fat reserves acquired during the rebreeding period compensate for reduced food intake during the breeding period. Also, green frogs consume most of their food in the spring and eat little during the winter. Food eaten in the spring, summer, and fall consists mostly of terrestrial prey.  whereas winter food is composed mostly of aquatic prey.

Juveniles (sexually immature frogs) eat about half the volume of food as do adults over the course of a year. Green frogs eat their cast skins following molting; the casting of skin is frequent during midsummer.

Temperature regulation and daily activities. Green frog's activity period varies by frog size, with larger frogs being primarily nocturnal, small frogs being diurnal, and middle-sized frogs (5 to 7 cm SVL) being equally active during day and night.

Hibernation

Adult green frogs overwinter by hibernating underground or underwater from fall to spring. The frogs hibernating in mud and debris at the bottom of streams approximately 1 m deep. The adults usually hibernate in restricted chambers within rock piles or beneath plant debris, while juveniles are more often found in locations with access to passing prey. The frogs begin emerging when the mean daily temperature is about 4.4C and the maximum temperature is about 15.6C for 3 to 4 days. Juvenile frogs enter and exit hibernation after adult frogs.

Breeding activities and social organization

Green frogs breed from spring through the summer, spawning at night. Female green frogs stay in a nonbreeding habitat until it is time to spawn. In preparation for breeding, males establish territories near the shore that serve as areas for sexual display and as defended oviposition sites. Males establish calling sites within their territories where they attempt to attract females. Females visit male territories to mate and lay their egg masses. The masses are contained in films of jelly and are deposited in emergent, floating, or submerged vegetation; they hatch in about 3 to 6 days. Adults are solitary during non-breeding periods.

In the southern part of their range, green frog tadpoles metamorphose into frogs in the same season in which they hatched, while in the northern part, 1 or 2 years pass before metamorphosis. Tadpoles that hatch from egg masses laid in the spring usually metamorphose that fall, while those hatching from summer-laid eggs typically overwinter as larvae and metamorphose the following spring. 

The most tadpoles are 2.6 to 3.8 cm SVL at the time of transformation. Those that transform in late June or early July grow rapidly, adding 1.4 to 2.0 cm SVL in the first 2 months and 0.4 to 0.7 cm SVL more before hibernation. Tadpoles that transform at approximately 3.1 cm SVL may reach between 5.0 and 5.8 cm SVL before hibernation. Therefore, newly transformed frogs often move from lakes and ponds where they were tadpoles to shallow stream banks, usually during periods of rain.

Home range and resources

The species' home range includes its foraging and refuge areas in and around aquatic environments. During the breeding period, the male's home range also includes its breeding territory. It is roughly 80 percent of adult frogs captured in the spring and again in the fall occupied the same home ranges.

Population density

During the breeding season, green frog densities at breeding ponds can exceed several hundred individuals per hectare. Adult male frogs space their breeding territories about 2 to 3 m apart. The sexual maturity is attained in 1 or 2 years after metamorphosis; individuals may reach maturity at the end of the first year but not attempt to breed until the next year. Most females lay one clutch per year, although some may lay two clutches, about 3 to 4 weeks apart. In natural populations, green frogs can live to approximately 5 years of age.

Similar Species

1.       The river frog (Rana heckscheri) is slightly larger than the green frog (8.0 to 12.0 cm SVL) and is found in swamps from southeast North Carolina to central Florida and southern Mississippi.

2.       The leopard and pickerel frogs (Rana pipiens and its relatives, and Rana palustris) are medium-sized and strongly spotted. There are four leopard frogs whose ranges are mostly exclusive from each other but overlap with the green frog. The pickerel frog has a similar range with gaps in the upper Midwest and the southeast.

3.       The mink frog (Rana septentrionalis) is only slightly smaller (4.0 to 7.0 cm) and is found on the borders of ponds and lakes, especially near waterlilies. It ranges from Minnesota to New York, north to Labrador.

4.       The carpenter frog (Rana virgatipes) is about the same size as the green frog (4.1 to 6.7 cm) and is closely associated with sphagnum bogs and grasslands. It has a coastal plain range from New Jersey to Georgia and Florida. The bullfrog and pig frog are much larger ranid species.

Read More – The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) / The Himalayan Cutia / The fire-tailed myzornis / Pando – The One Tree Forest / Great Blue Heron
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Animals That May Soon Be Extinct

British photographer Tim Flach, has spent the more than 2 years to documenting braving their habitats and their brittle existences. Thus, the resulting body of work, Endangered, provides us with a close and exceptional view into the striking lives of Earth's most threatened creatures, and reminds us of everything we should be scared to lose. For most of us, endangered animals are a far-away mystery.

Therefore, from species we are all acquainted with polar bear, snow leopard, cheetah, however to exotic beasts we would only imagine in fantasy films Saiga, Philippine eagle, Olm salamander. So Tim Flach presents a wide spectrum of biodiversity with Endangered, and sheds light on the inimitable challenges each animal faces in order to survive. Thus, some have had their numbers cut down by habitat destruction. While others endure more gruesome ordeals, such as hunting, poaching, and being sold into the black market.

1. Proboscis Monkey



2. Saiga



3. Philippine Eagle



4. Golden Snub Nosed Monkey



5. Ring Tailed Lemur



6. Polar Bear



7. Hacintth Macaw



8. Shoebill



9. Iberian Lynx



10. While Bellied Pangolin



11. Ploughshare Tortoise



12. Yunan Snub Nosed Monkey



13. Pied Tamarin



14. Olm Salamander



15. Green Winged Macaws on Claylick



16. Monarch Butterflies



17. European Honey Bee



18. Red Crown Crane



19. Western Lowland Gorillas



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30. Kaiser's Newt



31. Egyptian Vulture



31. Egyptian Vulture



34. Arabian Oryx



35. Fireflies



36. Sea Angels



37. Partula Snails



38. Giant Panda



39. Siamese Crocodile



40. Marine Iguana

Tim Flach has regularly stated that he set a goal to reveal the relationships that attach humans to our wilder counterparts. Staring into the eyes of the animals featured in Endangered, it's painful to imagine that any one of them would ever be considered less worthy of life than one of us. So, have a look into the most stunning shots from the series, and vote for the ones that took your breath away.

Rare "Blue Dragon" Spotted on the Shores of Australia

Nature is so beautiful, and everyday rare creatures stun human beings with their unique characteristics & shape. But it all depending on your perceptions, see this strange little blue creature may enthuse either aww-worthy shrieks of exhilaration or a bit of uncomfortable shock, perhaps a combination of both. Therefore, you can meet the blue dragon, one of the strangest and most magnificent little-known animals in the world. The accurate name of this mythical-looking creature is “Glaucus atlanticus”, or blue sea slug, and though it is much smaller than its imaginary brethren of lore just an inch or two in lengths. Furthermore, it has a host of nasty tricks up its sleeve—er wing? Moreover, they spend their lives upside down, attached to the surface of the water and floating along at the mercy of the winds and ocean currents. This majestic create color is blue; they blend in with the water in order to camouflage themselves within their environment. And however petit, these baby dragons are also hazardous: they predate on poisonous cnidarians, such as the Portuguese man o’war. They store the stings cells composed from these cnidarians within their own tissues, and use them as a defense on anything that bothers them. Therefore, handling a slight blue dragon could result in a painful, and perhaps dangerous, sting. Though not often spotted by humans, one of these alien-like specimens was caught on film after washing ashore in Queensland, Australia.

The Ring-Necked Snake (Diadophis Punctatus)

The Ring-necked Snake or Ring-neck Snake, Diadophis punctatus, is a species of colubrid snake found throughout much of the U.S, central Mexico, and southeastern Canada. Ring-necked snakes are secretive, nocturnal snakes, so are hardly seen during the day time. They’re somewhat venomous, but their nonaggressive nature and small, rear-facing fangs pose slight threat to humans who wanted to handle them. They’re best known for their distinctive defense posture of curling up their tails, exposing their bright red-orange posterior, ventral surface when threatened. Ring-necked snakes are assumed to be fairly plentiful throughout most of their range, though no scientific evaluation supports this theory. Because scientific research is lacking for the ring-necked snake, and more in-depth investigations are greatly required. It is the only species within the genus Diadophis, and presently 14 subspecies are identified, but several herpetologists question the morphologically based classifications.

The physical description describes this snake is the defensive display of a San Bernardino ring-necked snake and are fairly similar in morphology throughout much of their distribution. Its dorsal coloration is solid olive, brown, bluish-gray to black, broken only by a distinct yellow, red, or yellow-orange neck band. A few populations in New Mexico, Utah, and other distinctive locations do not have the distinctive neck band. Moreover, individuals may have abridged or partially colored neck bands that are hard to distinguish; coloration may also be more of a cream color slightly than bright orange or red. Head coloration tends to be slightly darker than the rest of the body, with tendencies to be blacker than grey or olive. Ventrally, the snakes exhibit a yellow-orange to red coloration broken by crescent-shaped black spots along the margins. Certain individuals lack the distinct ventral coloration, but naturally retain the black spotting. Infrequently, individuals lack both the ventral or neck band coloration, so the use of those two characteristics is the simplest way to distinguish the species.

The snake size also varies across the species distribution. Naturally, adults measure 25–38 cm and in length, except for D. p. regalis, which measures 38–46 cm. First-year juvenile snakes are normally about 20 cm and grow about 2–5 cm a year depending on the developmental stage or resource availability. Ring-necked snakes have flat scales with 15-17 scale rows at midbody. Males typically have small tubercles on their scales just anterior to the vent, which are generally absent in females. Ring-necked snakes are fairly common throughout much of the United States extending into southeastern Canada and central Mexico. Eastern populations cover the whole Eastern Seaboard from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence continuous through the Gulf Coast of Texas. Distribution moves inland into northern Minnesota, ongoing diagonally through the United States to include all of Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and most of Kansas. In the western United States, the distribution is meaningfully less continuous, with spotty, distinctive population segments through most of the Pacific Northwest. Populations extend from south-central Washington continuing along the extreme West Coast into Mexico. Population segments extend inland into western Idaho, through southern Nevada, into central Utah, and continuing south through Arizona and central Mexico.

Ring-necked snakes occur in an extensive variety of habitats. Preference seems to be determined by areas with plentiful cover and denning locations. Northern and western species are found within open woodlands close to rocky hillsides, or in wetter environments with plentiful cover or woody debris. Southern species exist mainly within riparian and wet environments, particularly in more arid habitats. Stebbins in 2003 recognized the species as a snake of moist habitats, with moist soil conditions the preferred substrate. Ring-necked snakes cannot found above an elevation of 2200 m. In northern regions, dens are also important in classifying suitable ring-necked snake habitat. Dens are typically shared communally, and are identifiable by an existent subsurface crevasse or hole deep enough to avoid freezing temperatures. Since it is a woodland reptile, it can also usually be found under wood or scraps. Because of hot weather, they tend to make holes and burrows, or they hide under rocks or any appropriate material. They are generally found in flatland forests.