On Friday I was changing some identification tags on the palms located on the back porch of the "museum" at the Bosque to discover this very unusual frog attached to the side of a plastic vase. It was totally immobile with legs and feet tucked in under its body and only a slight slit of the eyes open. The attached image was taken after I had removed it from the vase. The only sign of life was that it moved its legs out from under the body and opened its eyes a bit wider. I have never seen anything quite like this little frog. Immediately, it reminded me of the legendary frog of this region, called muiraquitã. Amulets of this green frog were made of jade and other rare stones by Indians of past times and the legend associated with the muiraquitã is one of the best known throughout the Amazon. I have written more about the legend in my upcoming book, SANTARÉM - RIVERBOAT TOWN, to be published soon by the Missouri Publishing Company.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
The Legendary frog
On Friday I was changing some identification tags on the palms located on the back porch of the "museum" at the Bosque to discover this very unusual frog attached to the side of a plastic vase. It was totally immobile with legs and feet tucked in under its body and only a slight slit of the eyes open. The attached image was taken after I had removed it from the vase. The only sign of life was that it moved its legs out from under the body and opened its eyes a bit wider. I have never seen anything quite like this little frog. Immediately, it reminded me of the legendary frog of this region, called muiraquitã. Amulets of this green frog were made of jade and other rare stones by Indians of past times and the legend associated with the muiraquitã is one of the best known throughout the Amazon. I have written more about the legend in my upcoming book, SANTARÉM - RIVERBOAT TOWN, to be published soon by the Missouri Publishing Company.
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2 comments:
This is very interesting. Such strange animals in the Amazon...the lost world.
I think this frog may be infected with batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a disease caused by chytrid fungus. this disease is a main cause for the current global decline of amphibians. usually frogs that are infected with it seem depressed, are immobile, and die shortly thereafter. very sad!!
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