Dharma Bums: Ribbit

This is for the frogs @ Depalma's pond.
by Dread Pirate Roberts
"these frogs, as their name indicate, live in the forest. they don't apparently climb trees very much, preferring damp places under rocks or logs or forest litter, where they find insects to eat. in early spring the males find a pond, mark territory with ribbits, and start calling the females. so all that noise is either 'c'mere honey' or 'beat it bud, you're on my turf.' we like the sound. from the quiet, one frog, the 'chorusmaster,' will begin croaking. then others will chime in and the chorus will go on for a while, til at some hidden signal they all stop. i'm impressed in the same way that bands impress me by winding up a big number with a final flurry of sound and all stopping on the same beat, or the way that a flock of several hundred little birds flies as a unit."
Pseudacris regilla. Neat cuz frogs are kinda like a canary in a coal mine, but their population is what you've got to watch.


They've got
pictures too.

Comments

  1. This is cute. Birds do that, too. When you hear them chirp, they're usually either fighting or trying to woo potential partners.

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  2. i'm impressed in the same way that bands impress me by winding up a big number with a final flurry of sound and all stopping on the same beat, or the way that a flock of several hundred little birds flies as a unit."

    You know they have their own intelligence needs. They're not what you'd call intellectual. Their thoughts, as I was reminded recently, occur without thinking, then it's become instinct. Stay together. Spread out. Move it or lose it and a lot of .. well,

    Let's just say frogs ain't nothing compared to people, and if we don't take care of them through how we manage our world's biosphere, we may not be able to take care of ourselves when they're gone.

    Leastways, not in a species' wide culture I'd want any hand in.

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