The Princes of Monsoon!

My impatience kept growing as the rainy season approached closer last year, for the end of summer signifies a drastic change in the natural world. And having given up my day job last year, I had all the time to observe it.

One of the animal groups, that I had never given much thought to before, but which intrigue me now are the amphibians, specially the frogs. Over the entire monsoon season this year, I managed to see many frog species in Maharashtra. I am sharing a few images that I captured and also some facts about the importance of these creatures.

Fungoid Frog, Mumbai

Ramanella Montana, Mumbai

Common Indian Toad (Bufo melanostictus)

Skittering Frog, Mumbai

Ornate Narrow Mouthed Frog?

Frog Facts and What makes them so important!

Although historically, amphibians have proven themselves to be survivors, scientists now believe that they are extremely vulnerable to current environmental threats and susceptible to extinction.

• The lifecycle of a frog involves aquatic development of eggs and larvae and terrestrial activity as adults. Thus they are exposed to multiple environments and consequently the threats to them.
• Frog larvae are herbivores and adult frogs are carnivores, which again exposes them to a variety of food, predators and parasites.
• Amphibians have moist skin and respiration is thus carried out by close contact with the environment. So in this way also, they are more susceptible to environmental threats than other groups.
• Amphibians have small geographic ranges which make them especially vulnerable to habitat changes and threats resulting directly or indirectly from human activities.

Climate change is likely to have major impacts on species that live in a vast diversity of habitats and have small geographic range. Amphibians are thereby the most threatened groups and are heading towards extinction. There is a urgent need to research and come up with ways to conserve the amphibians, since they are important bio-indicators of environmental health.