Is There a Herpetologist in the House?

Posted 26 August 2006 by Reed A. Cartwright

Coturnix over at Blog Around the Clock needs help. His friend Kevin is doing a survey of herps in China and can't identify a frog. (Snakes are his speciality.) Can anyone here identify it? Pictures of the unidentified species, along with some known ones, can be found here.

24 Comments

'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank · 26 August 2006

Sorry, not up on my Chinese herps. If it were from the US, I'd know it though.

;)

Reed A. Cartwright · 26 August 2006

"Chinese herps", sounds like an STD.

KL · 26 August 2006

""Chinese herps", sounds like an STD."

If you catch it, will you croak?

NJ · 26 August 2006

Why does the phrase "17 herps and spices" come to mind?

Henry J · 26 August 2006

Re "If you catch it, will you croak?"

Nah, just get warts.

Henry

stevaroni · 27 August 2006

...doing a survey of herps in China and can't identify a frog.

Geeze. That' spretty bad. Even I know that's a frog.

'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank · 27 August 2006

But did you know that it's a ranid frog . . . . ?

Of some sort.

;)

stevaroni · 27 August 2006

But did you know that it's a ranid frog

Admittedly, no. But then again, I figured that that was the kind of information that was mostly of interest to the frog. Especially when his little amphibian thoughts turned to finding that one special frog-ette, with which to settle down, find a nice 3/2 lily pad in the 'burbs and have a couple of thousand tadpoles. I may be reading too much into this, though.

stevaroni · 27 August 2006

Actually, now that I look at the picture, it could very be a "her" instead of a "him".

I have no idea how you tell the difference.

I'm assuming the frogs have some way of knowing.

One hopes, or spring is likely a lonely and embarrasing time in the swamp.

Wheels · 27 August 2006

Those amphibians are all so... so... ambiguous. Don't we have an Audubon Society Fieldguide to Native Chinese Reptiles and Amphibians?
Unfortunately that's a pretty nondescript frog, and Google is full of hits about those ear-canally Chinese frogs that communicate ultrasonically (which look different from the frogs in the pictures anyway). I only know of a few indigenous Chinese species off-hand and that doesn't really look like a fire-bellied toad, a glider, or a spiny/edible.

Alan Bird · 27 August 2006

Wheels wrote: "that doesn't really look like a fire-bellied toad, a glider, or a spiny/edible."
I'm currently living in China, and can assure you that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the Chinese *don't* find edible.
Regards,
Alan (whose dinner last night consisted of more kinds of tripe than there are domesticated animals back home).

'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank · 27 August 2006

Actually, now that I look at the picture, it could very be a "her" instead of a "him". I have no idea how you tell the difference. I'm assuming the frogs have some way of knowing.

Only the males croack. Seriously.

'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank · 27 August 2006

I'm currently living in China, and can assure you that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the Chinese *don't* find edible.

That's one reason why turtle species are going extinct all over Asia. No joke.

Anonymous_Coward · 28 August 2006

I'm currently living in China, and can assure you that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the Chinese *don't* find edible.

We don't eat humans or biological waste. Some Chinese alchemists found that mercury was edible. They discovered that mercury has a curious property only found among certain food groups in that they can only be eaten once.

Alejandro · 28 August 2006

Damm, from seeing the RSS post title I was expecting a Snakes on a Plane post. Disappointment.

stevaroni · 28 August 2006

We don't eat humans or biological waste.

Hmmm, a lot of western food is based on biological "waste" products (though not the one you're alluding to). For instance, cheese and yogurts (not a big part of the Chinese diet), fermented alcohol products, vinegars, probably an entire host of others I can't think of at the moment.

fnxtr · 28 August 2006

What's a 'frog'? I hear lots of crickets these days, but no frogs...

Anonymous_Coward · 28 August 2006

For instance, cheese and yogurts (not a big part of the Chinese diet), fermented alcohol products, vinegars, probably an entire host of others I can't think of at the moment.

Chinese diets have a kind of cheese equivalent in fermented tofu (while is probably purchasable in your local Chinese food market, it is unknown to most). It kind of tastes like cheese and sour cream in one, often stored in chilli mixtures. And if Mongolian influences count, some Northern Chinese would probably consume the fermented milk the Mongols were famous for. But if those other products can constitute as biological waste, then I guess the Chinese eat those too. Obviously, we still don't eat the ones I was alluding to earlier, although the rural areas have been recycling it for hundreds of years.

Lazy DaY · 28 August 2006

As anyone can see; it is designed, of the Frog kind, and it will not sire a dog, cat, monkey, or anything else besides another frog.

Interestingly, its DNA can be used to fill in the gaps of dinosaur DNA to create dinosaur clones for a theme park - conclusively showing that not only are frogs designed, but so are dinosaurs.

Alan Bird · 29 August 2006

OK, I was a trifle facetious about what the Chinese will eat. They'll eat *most* anything, but I admire them for not being squeamish about the wobbly bits. Indeed, I eat offal myself with great enthusiasm now, and judge the Chinese cuisines as better than the Western variety that processes offal as pet food after eating the choice bits. I feel if you're going to kill an animal for food, the least you can do to return the obligation is to eat it all.
(But be cautious about Anonymous_coward's rather upbeat description of fermented dofu. The stuff known as cho dofu is, well, explosive stuff.)
However, to return to the topic the reason I'm back in China is to teach oral English at a universty in Hangzhou. I've got carte blanche over the subject matter of my lessons, as long as I get the students to talk in English, and in the past I've tried to get them interested in eg pollution, and climate change. So thanks for the comments: this year I think I'll bring endangered species up, and mass extinctions, and angle the discussion towards turtles. However, I've read (googled) reports that say China is quite serious about enforcing CITES. Is that impression correct? If so, I may be banging on an open door.

Anonymous_Coward · 29 August 2006

However, I've read (googled) reports that say China is quite serious about enforcing CITES. Is that impression correct? If so, I may be banging on an open door.

There are two main factors: 1) The government, whether it be corruption (most likely), or 2) The inability of any taskforce to keep tabs on black markets that are so massive and highly distributed. The Chinese government does have a strong commitment for environmentally friendly economy, but that does not stop, for example, the corruption and money laundering that led to the chemical disaster a few years back that caused carcinogenic chemicals to spill into the river that crossed borders. The same kind of inability to keep black markets in check is why nothing can really stop the piracy that goes there either.

'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank · 29 August 2006

However, I've read (googled) reports that say China is quite serious about enforcing CITES. Is that impression correct?

Theoretically, yes. In reality, a vast portion of smuggled endangered animals still go to China -- some for food, some for "traditional medicine". Want to do some good with your English class? Tell them that rhino horn and tiger penis *won't* really give them hardons when they get older.

Mike Dunford · 1 September 2006

Personally, I'd suggest going for that good old naturalists' standby: Somethingoranotherus sp.

billie · 2 November 2006

I own 2 fat-tail leopard geckos. I have owned them for about a year and a half. My problem is that one of them has stopped eating. I know that they will stop eating just before they shed, but she didn't start eating again. I have been hand feeding Wendy (that's her name) for a few days and it is really hard. Wendy keeps spitting out the mealworm and I am afraid I am hurting her. My question is can I feed her Pretty Bird baby formula? Will that hurt Wendy? I have been using a syringe to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated. I have been putting a little vitamins and calcium supplement in the warm water for her. I await your answer. Thank you.