Wotsit

[martin butterfield <>]

Geoffrey

In parts of the US more civilised than the Lone-star State - most anywhere - I think the beast in question is known as a Horned Toad.  However as noted by your adviser and Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrynosoma it is neither frog nor toad but lizard.

Martin

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 4:23 PM, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

My attention has been drawn to the fact that the Texas Christian University ‘Horned Frog’ is not actually a frog but a lizard.

 

Reminds me of Ogden Nash –

 

“ The one-L lama he’s a priest,

The two-L llama he’s a beast,

But I will bet a silk pajama

That there is no

Three-L lllama.

[The author’s attention has been drawn to a type of conflagration known as a three-alarmer]”

 

From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Monday, 14 December 2009 9:34 AM
To:
Subject: FW: [canberrabirds] Wotsit

 

That Steve is uncanny.  Correct on all counts, and Denis got the half-point.  This ex-tadpole has teeth and can swallow a grown rat, even if Gerald Durrell was a shade large.  Whether for that reason or not, it is the emblem of Texas Christian University.

 

This worrying development is enough to make me spend a few keystrokes on a letter to the Canberra Times.  What are our animal quarantine laws for if these chaps can just hop into a sewage pond in the nation’s capital and grab ducks at will?

 

From: Steve Holliday [
Sent: Monday, 14 December 2009 8:14 AM
To: 'Geoffrey Dabb'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Wotsit

 

Blue-billed Duck? And a Horned Frog (Ceratophrys sp) from Sth America – I seem to recollect Gerald Durrell being bitten by one of these in one of his books on his animal collecting days. From memory, it hurt a lot! Sadly, we had no such luck when we were in Sth America.

 

Steve

 

From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Sunday, 13 December 2009 10:30 AM
To: ; Alastair Smith
Subject: [canberrabirds] Wotsit

 

Over several years, speculation has continued about the periodic disappearance of ducks from some Canberra ponds.  Some experts attribute this to an aquatic creature referred to for want of a better label as ‘the Duck-grabbing Frog’. ( It should be mentioned that there are others, called by some ‘Duck-grabbing Frog deniers’, who do not share this theory.)  Now this unusual photograph provides convincing evidence to support the position of those who have believed in the frog.

 

To help the Canberra Times Environmental Reporter produce an accurate story can anyone name the frog and duck species shown here?