Let’s make more frogs happy

At Zazamalala we love frogs, but so do our Big-headed turtles (Erymnochelys madagascariensis) and Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus). Moreover, fish consume frog eggs and tiny tadpoles. Hence, the pools in the Zazamalala botanical garden are used by frogs that merely use the pools for quick (explosive) reproduction, such as Burrowing frogs (Scaphiophryne ssp.) and tiny Reed frogs (Heterixalus ssp.). Aquatic frogs like the Maskarene grass frog (Ptychadena mascareniensis do not like our pools, though we hear their calls every night from adjacent rice paddies.

To accommodate Ptychadena, Antsouhy tomato frog (Dyscophus insularis) and Skeleton tree frog (Boophis doulioti), to name a few, we are now constructing shallow ponds with lots of mud and vegetation. Hopefully in these new ponds, fish, turtles and crocodiles will not interfere with the happiness of our frogs.

Climate changes and less rain throughout the year will reduce the number of frogs in Madagascar. Please help the Zazamalala foundation to protect and enhance the last resorts in the Menabe province of west Madagascar, the most threatened ecosystem in the world.