By Rich Beilfuss, Director of Scientific Services
My four-year old son Ian has become the "frog-saver" of Chitengo. Every day, he collects all the frogs and toads that get stuck in the swimming pool. He shrieks with joy every time he is able to grab one of the slippery critters, and his love of frogs is known far and wide across Chitengo.
Ian is actually providing a good conservation service because most of the frogs and toads that hop into the pool each night from the surrounding grasslands are unable to climb back out, and often drown. Unfortunately, Ian brings them into our home and lets them loose in our shower. We currently have two missing frogs somewhere in the bathroom or bedroom.
It is especially fun to see him blossoming as a young naturalist. Joao Viseu (Director of Business) gave him a large poster of the "Frogs of Southern Africa" which hangs proudly on Ian's bedroom wall, and he is learning to identify all species he catches. So far five different species have taken a shower with us, with the delightful names of foam nest frog, shovel-footed squeaker, striped stream frog, broad-banded grass frog, and our favorite, the red toad. Every night 3-4 red toads visit our lighted front porch, making the calculated risk that it is better to endure an hour of fondling and chasing on the porch by our excited child than to remain in the grasses with hungry snakes prowling about.
This week, we will be conducting the first ever Gorongosa NP frog survey, modeled after a frog survey I used to participate in for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in the USA. We will drive to 10 different pans in the Park after dark, staying at each for 5-10 minutes to record all the frog and toad species we hear (we use an index that ranges from 1 = one individual calling to 3 = full chorus, which provides an excellent way to follow population trends seasonally and from year to year). We are lucky to have a CD covering the calls of 27 frog species likely to occur in this area. The surveys are a lot of fun -- we expect to have two or more car loads of frog lovers with us -- and it is a good excuse to be out under the starry African skies of Gorongosa.