BackFinding frogs
Finding frogs
PremiumColourful croakers: The Rhacophorus lateralis.
Did you know that most toads tend to have poisonous glands while most frogs don’t? Frogs also feel slimier when held, while toads are rough. Also, there are several very bright, even beautiful, frogs and toads.
Equipped with outdated guides that didn’t have sufficient descriptors to identify different species, Gururaja recalls feeling frustrated through his years as a researcher. The outcome is 10 years of research and six months of collating images to form the book that describes 73 of the 157 known species of frogs and toads in the Western Ghats. Designed in a convenient size, 6x4.5 inches, the book is meant for students, researchers, forest managers, photographers and those who want help in identifying a species in the field, along with the species’ status, ecology and distribution. “We have been missing a quality guide and I hope this will begin to bridge the gap," says Gururaja.
“The book doesn’t have several frogs and toads that are yet to be documented in the Western Ghats," says Gururaja. Those will be added when available. The guide is structured on the basis of habitats of species, namely terrestrial (including burrowing), semi-aquatic/terrestrial, aquatic and arboreal, along with distribution maps and habitat photographs. But the book works well because of the bright photographs, mostly recorded in surroundings that the frogs and toads are likely to be found in—which also makes it great for amateurs.
The project to create the book began in 2010, when the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (Atree) offered the researcher a grant ₹ 1.5 lakh to put the book together. Gururaja plans to make an electronic version complete with audio widgets of the call patterns of frogs and toads. There is also a mobile application in the making.
To buy the Pictorial Guide to Frogs And Toads of the Western Ghats (Rs 300), visit https://shop.gubbilabs.in/, or the Center for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning (Cistup), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
pavitra.j@livemint.com
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