1GDW wrote:
> Walt,
> I do not know what your frog is but I wonder if mutation could be in
> the picture. We have a large chemical plant close to my home and
> the property would be in the flood plain of the Mississippi River if
> it were not for the levy system. A marsh is present around the
> plant depending on water levels. During high water in the river the
> seep water will cause flooding through the marsh and folks down
> stream have found many mutated creatures. Mostly the frogs suffer
> from extra legs. Could your frog be a case of mutation resulting
> from contact with pollution?
If it was a single frog this would be highly likely, though the cause
does not have to be man made. Frogs naturally produce a fair amount of
mutations. I'm used to this, it's not at all uncommon to have one frog
calling off for some reason.
In fact, two years ago I got the same call, from one individual. And
that's exactly what we did, dismissed it as a defective narrowmouth toad.
However, this new site was more than a dozen identically calling
individuals. And when I went back to the previous recording it's the
same, sonograms and all. Very hard to have that many identical mutations
in two separate locations.
And both sites are not that exposed to chemicals. Though this new one is
more in farmland than the first, which was in a large wildlife preserve.
Walt
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