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?
