The Maternal Instinct

When a Mother Doe was killed by an Auto, leaving a young fawn orphaned, this nursing Chocolate Lab was happy to fill in. It's very common for normal behavior to be set aside when the maternal instinct kicks in.

Peterson Farm Bros Reap a Great Harvest in Parody

It's not often farming gets in the cultural spotlight. That's why it's refreshing to see three brothers on a Kansas farm grow a huge fan base following on youtube, with their parodies of popular songs.The Peterson Farm Bros video page draws millions of views of their well produced parody videos which are just as tasty as the beef they produce.

Freaky Friday Foto: The Milk Frog

Unless you are lactose intolerant, you will love this croaker...

No it’s not just the color which gives them their name, but it’s the milk-like poisonous fluid excretion released from them when they are stressed or threatened. They are native to Amazon rainforest and were first discovered in Brazil’s Maracana River. They are famously known as Amazon milk frog.
They are fairly large frogs, reaching up to 2.5- 4 inches. Females are startlingly larger than males. They are greyish in color blended with black banding. During their early stage of life, they have soft and supple skin, but with age they start developing bumpy texture and the grey color slowly metamorphoses to silvery white. Their mouths are tinted with blue, as if it’s chewing a mint; therefore they are also known as blue milk frogs. The milk excretion helps them deter predators and also help them to be hydrated. READ MORE

This brand new species of tree frog is already in trouble

Boophis ankarafensis, a new species of tree frog in Madagascar. (Gonçal

Washington Post Article By Rachel Feltman

Tree frogs are adorable, so let’s have some more: In a study published in open-access journal ZooKeys, researchers describe a new species called Boophis ankarafensis. Unfortunately, it's in danger of losing its habitat.
Green with red speckles, the species looks quite similar to its closest relatives in the habitat – the banks of two streams in the Ankarafa Forest of Madagascar. But in addition to a large genetic divergence (one of more than 4.9 percent, based on analyzed gene fragments) the little frogs have one big distinction: Their call. (READ MORE)

Freaky Friday: AugDEmented Reality

If this isn't perfect Freaky Friday material, I don't know what is...

A World Unto Thier Own

We get questions from time to time, asking why we advise against keeping fish & frogs together in a standard Aquarium setting. While African Dwarf Frogs are a popular addition to freshwater aquariums, it's not always a good thing for either the fish, or the frogs.

Too often, the choices of what species are together in a tank, is determined by owners preferences, often whether a fish is pretty or cute or even how "happy" a critter seems when seen in a pet

Oooo! There's one that matches the wall paint!

shop tank.  Unfortunately, a tank owners personal preferences is the WORST yardstick to use. The compatibility of different species should ALWAYS be considered over anything else. Always consider the type of fish species indigenous to the natural habitat of the frog... In other words, if you have African Dwarf Frogs, ALWAYS choose the species of tropical fish that are also indigenous to West African rain forests over all others.  Why?
Because eons of evolution has naturally selected fish & frog species to tolerate diseases carried by each species, who have evolved together in the same regional environment. A frog evolved in West African Rain forests, may not have tolerances of disease vectors carried by tropical fish from South East Asia or elsewhere. 

Hey! This oriental food is pretty tasty!

Equally important, is natural behavioral traits of each species, imprinted by location and circumstance, which are now instinctive.  While species may have naturally tolerant behavior regardless of where it evolved, some may have behaviors that will clash or compete with a foreign species, all because of where each species evolved from, and the environment each evolved in.
 Regardless if animals are bred in captivity or in the wild, evolutionary behaviors & physical tolerances do not radically change. Disease susceptibilities within a species still reside, whether bred in the wild or in captivity,  & there are cases where the presence of a foreign species can actually create susceptibilities which would normally not be present.

Bloat, (Dropsy) is a good example.  There's still no conclusive reason why ADF's lymph nodes are triggered to overproduce lymph fluid. Some suspect a reaction to a common bacterium, often found within the skin layer of tubal worms, like blood worms. Yet exposure to this bacteria in nature seldom shows ill effects. Bloat is not a common disease in nature, not near as common as it is in aquariums. However, there's evidence that ADF's sharing an aquarium habitat with fish, have a higher susceptibility rate than do ADF's who do not. One conclusion would be that something common with some fish species may tie in with exposure to the bacterium, which normally would not pose a problem, since intermingling to such species would never happen in the wild.  Another conclusion may be environmental factors, common within a fish friendly habitat, such as higher dissolved oxygen content in the water, can cause abnormal susceptibilities in African Dwarf Frogs, or a more tolerable environment for the bacterium to thrive & concentrate.
Remember, frogs can coexist with fish in an environment tolerable for fish, yet in a natural environment of extreme acidic, nitrate high, & low oxygenated water, fish are not a common species to co-exist with these frogs. Most fish cannot tolerate water conditions these frogs would call home. It's entirely the reason that in a more pristine aquatic world of a freshwater aquarium, species of fish & frogs which naturally never be together do intermingle, and present possibilities that never would happen in the wild.
These are the reasons we run contrary to conventional wisdom, and advise keeping fish & frogs separate in a aquarium environment. Doing so allows maintaining a tank ecology most suited to the needs of a species, while keeping the likelihood of cross species contamination & behavior conflicts totally eliminated. 

Freaky Friday Foto: Mexican Burrowing Toad

Kicking off a new feature to the blog, The Freaky Friday Froggy Foto! Our first photo is not of a frog, but a TOAD! A Mexican Burrowing Toad (Rhinophrynus dorsalis) . While it could be the poster child for a weight loss clinic, the Mexican Burrowing Toad only puffs itself up when threatened. Find out more here.

Our Frogs don't Dance

OK we admit, our frogs don't dance. They stand up and look at you, & might even take a food pellet from a fingertip, but dance? Nope. That's why we think a dancing dog... a dancing Merengue Dog is pretty neat!

Work Piling Up?

Feel like this huge load of stuff piled up on you over the weekend?

Relax to Frog Sounds

Those of us living in the South sometimes take this stuff for granted. We're sure it's the same elsewhere too. However, the sounds of nature holds a special mesmerizing attraction to everyone, and especially to those too often deprived of it. City dwellers mostly, those who have lived around the sounds of industry & car traffic so much, that when they do come hear nature sounds, it's something totally foreign & exotic. For us "country folk', it can't be the other way around, I doubt I'd ever relax to the sounds of rush hour traffic... just no way! But listening to a chorus of frogs in the night, it'll send me off to sleep in no time.
There's quite a growing industry for "Relaxation Sounds". Youtube is full of long playlists of the sounds of nature, hours of it. And checking out the hit counters of a number of them, the popularity is huge.
So we thought that leading into the weekend, we offer this Hour of "Frog Song" to help everyone depressurize & relax. We hope you enjoy the sounds of Nature.

Petr Spatina & The Glass Harp

We don't suggest trying this with an EcoAquarium, don't want to dip your fingers in the water.  Meet Petr Spatina from the Czech Republic. Petr played Accordion and Piano until he finally found „his" instrument, the Glass Harp which he plays now for over 15 years.
The Glass Harp consists of 33 wine glasses, filled and tuned with water.
The spherical sound of his music is bewitching, seems to be from outer space, unbelievably made. Not just any street musician, Petr is known world wide, because of his TV appearances. One things for certain... You can bet he can make the dog howl!

The Vanishing Frogs

It's not a magic act, but all the same, frogs are indeed vanishing from the natural world, and Naturalists are seeking answers as to why. While the conversion of rainforests into farmland has all but wiped out the natural habitat of our own African Dwarf Frogs,  some species are simply vanishing without man's direct encroachment.
That has biologists in a scramble wondering why.  Naturalist Jeff Corwin attributes global climate change along with civilizations demands on the few remaining wild places left on our planet. Check out this video, one of three parts, that search for a rare, almost extinct frog species in Ecuador.

Pets Interrupting Yoga

We promise... our Frogs are happy to just sit on the sidelines & watch.

Garden Frogs: The Gardener's Friend

Maintaining a household garden is a great use of your yard by adding a source of fresh vegetables to the kitchen table. With little effort you can let nature help in your gardens maintenance, by introducing Frogs,  a true Gardeners Friend to the garden. Anybody can have a Goldfish Pond, but a Frog Pond is special, especially for growing a happy healthy garden.
This short video explains how to make a home for frogs to be attracted to your garden and aid greatly in keeping garden pests at bay.

Hummingbird Infestation

Is there such a thing as "Too much of a good thing?" Not if it's a cloud of Hummingbirds at your feeders! Warning, this is a cuteness overload!

Glen Keane's "Duet" Animation

In this day & age of modern CGI animation, we're thrilled to see "Old School" methods of hand drawn cell animation still alive & well. Disney Award Winning animaton artist Glen Keane, presented his latest and most personal project to date, Duet, as part of a special Advanced Technology and Projects session at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco.

Freaky Friday Post: We made it to the weekend!

HEY! We made it to the weekend! A perfect reason to kick up your heels & dance!
Hats off to two-year-old William Stokkebroe, gleefully dancing the jive. Talented young William's parents own a dance studio in Denmark called Studie43, where the boy picked up on all these Elvis-like moves. 

Squirrel Obstacle Course

You get teased about keeping Frogs as pets? If so, point out you don't make obstacle courses for them to go through, just for a tidbit of food.

Teacher Steve Barley takes some time out of the classroom to construct three different obstacle courses in his backyard for wild squirrels. He provides commentary as a couple of brave squirrels attempt to run through the course for a prize of nuts.

And now the News...(before naptime)

You have to admit, nowadays some of our daily news seems to be like a child's daydream, so what if the news was reported by children as well.? It actually makes a bit more sense when you hear it coming from "the mouths of babes." ...although it certainly sounds like Canada isn't a great place to be for the moment. Stay tuned.

A Heartwarming Friendship Between Toddler and WWII Vet

There is no telling how some friendships form, but some only need a simple spark to blossom. In this case, it was just a toddlers love of tomatoes that started something truly heartwarming.

For nearly a decade Bryan and Anika Rychner had little interaction with the elderly man next door. At best, they'd flash a wave or say hello in passing.
That changed last year when their son Emmett, just 2 years old at the time, decided to pay Erling Kindem a visit.
"They kind of bonded over the tomatoes in his garden," said Ankia, "because Emmett loves tomatoes."