Nature Nanaimo February meeting

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Thursday, February 21st, 2019
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Silent frogs … in noisy streams … with tails.

Tailed frogs have not changed in 20,000,000 years. There are, in fact, two species in BC. These small, primitive frogs are uniquely adapted to life in cool, fast-flowing mountain streams with large cobble substrates and step-pools, where life can be a bit noisy. And they are a treasure trove of weird wildlife trivia! They have no eardrums and they are voiceless. Their tongues attach to the bottoms of their mouths like yours do (not really a frog thing). If you catch a tailed frog tadpole on the coast of BC it might be 4 years old (egad!). If you catch an adult, it could be 15 years or more. And then there’s that “tail” – only the males have them, and you can guess why. Melissa will introduce us to more of the tailed frog’s quirks, pass on tales of her research in remote rugged coastal headwater streams in southeast and northwest BC, tell you why tailed frogs matter, and discuss what we can do to conserve and protect this ancient anuran.

In her current role as a provincial government research scientist with the Coast Area Research Section, Melissa leads and participates in collaborative applied field research into the biology and ecology of a range of coastal vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife species and communities: from bugs to bears. Her research fills scientific knowledge gaps to improve the success of wildlife conservation in land use policy, planning and management in BC.