The Lowland Leopard Frog (rana yavapaiensis) is what’s called a True Frog. Its size is 1 and 4/5 to 3 and 2/5 inches big from snout to vent. Its coloring is simple but has some decoration on the skin. Lowland Leopard Frogs are tan, brown, light green to bright green, and have large dark colored dorsal spots. To really notice a Lowland Leopard Frog, and know that for sure it is one, the clues are the dark dorsal spots usually with no light halos, and no spots around the eyes. Lowland Leopard Frogs have some adaptations like the ability to jump high and fast, and also the capability to live in man-made natural environments.

 

Rana yavapaiensis is somewhere in the middle of the food chain. I say this because Lowland Leopard Frogs can eat other bugs and animals and it can also be eaten. Their high fast jumps give them the ability to compete for food with other frogs. The animals that prey on the amphibian I am reporting on are: cougars, birds, predatory fish, and other frogs. The way that how lowland leopard frogs hide from predators and avoid from being eaten is to remain very still, don’t move and they blend right in.

 

These kinds of frogs live in natural types of areas like: streams, riverside channels, springs, ponds, and also including stock ponds. Rana yavapaiensis can do very well in this ecosystem because they have an ability to live in different varieties of natural aquatic systems. You can find these frogs in some parts of the United States and Mexico, if you ever want to actually see what they look like.

 

The population of Lowland Leopard Frogs is stable but is also decreasing in some parts of the United States. There isn’t an exact number of how many of these frogs are in the world but like I said it’s a stable amount, maybe about 50%. Some reasons why the population is decreasing is because of the dramatic changes in the climate and it just might be that they’re just dying out but still reproducing.

 

I’ve learned so much about this frog, it has interested me and I’m glad that I have gotten to do a report on this type of amphibian. What I’ve learned about this animal is that it eats small fish, other frogs, and birds, and when they’re tadpoles they just eat plants. I had never thought of a frog eating other frogs or birds before, so it was very interesting to learn about this fact from my animal. What stood out about my animal as I was reading about it was that its call or croak sounds like short low chuckles almost like little quick short kisses. I thought that was a very interesting fact also to learn about. Again my report was about Rana yavapaiensis (Lowland Leopard Frog) which is also known as a True Frog.

 

Author: Abigail O

Date: 02/2010

 

Resources:

www.californiaherps.com

www.scottsdale.edu

www.sciencebob.com

www.pima.gov

www.usbr.gov

www.wikipedia.org

 

Photo Credit:

http://www.nps.gov/sagu/naturescience/images/Lowland_leopard_frog.jpg