Gopher frogs

Figured it's time to post again even though absolutely NOTHING is happening at the drift fences.  Still dry and cold.  We did get some snow on Sunday which is really unusual for here, but it didn't amount to much.  Certainly not enough to affect water levels!  Took these photos of a couple gopher frogs, Rana capito, we have in captivity for the winter.  They were born last spring at Craig's Pond--one of the largest bays on site.  They will be released back there this spring, but most likely with some radio transmitters on their backs so Kurt Buhlmann can look at their movements and use of the uplands away from the pond.  Gopher frogs are quite rare and there is a lot of interest in learning more about their habitat requirements and general ecology. Their name comes from their association with Gopher tortoises--they use their burrows!  They are considered endangered, threatened, or at risk in every state in which they occur.  The closely related Mississippi (or dusky) gopher frog, Rana sevosa, used to occur along the gulf coast states but is now federally endangered and restricted to only a few remaining populations.   Hopefully Rana capito won't suffer the same fate, but in SC there are only two main places where these gorgeous frogs can even be found: the Savannah River Site and Francis Marion National Forest.  We only have a few known ponds with gopher frogs on the SRS but we are actively trying to get some tissue samples for DNA so we can get a feel for the genetic health of the remaining populations and compare the populations here and at Francis Marion.  Fellow blogger, David Scott and I are doing the genetic work along with Stephen Richter at Eastern Kentucky University.  Stephen has a lot of experience with the Mississippi gopher frogs and hopefully together we can all learn more about these awesome frogs.

Shrew vs. the salamander

I may not have mentioned it before but marbled salamanders have a nice "goo" on them that is supposed to be distasteful.  They, like some other Ambystomatid salamanders produce noxious secretions thought to deter predators. After handling them my hands have a nice coating of their secretions and it basically looks like you're just dirty--it gets dried and black and pretty hard to get off.  As an aside getting it into your eyes is NOT recommended.  On Friday we caught a shrew in a bucket and decided to see what it would do. Shrews are common predators of salamanders and it's been shown they don't seem to get used to the secretion, but also don't let it deter them.  I've uploaded the video to you tube and you can watch it here. It is clear that the shrew finds the salamander distasteful but irresistible at the same time!  It "tastes" the salamander then rubs it mouth like crazy but comes right back.  Pretty cool to watch.  Rest assured neither the shrew nor the salamander were injured in the making of this film! 

Frozen gators

I thought when I moved to SC from Maine I was heading to a warmer place!  This week it's warmer up there.  We are really having some crazy southern weather.  Didn't get out of the 30's today and ridiculous wind to go with it.  Reminded me of a cold snap we had last winter where the ponds we have out behind the lab froze over for a couple weeks.  In those ponds we have a male and female pair of alligators and some of their offspring.  Many of us took the opportunity to get into the enclosure and take some photos assuming the cold would have them moving pretty darn slowly.  Here are a couple of the photos I took then. One shows the male entirely under the ice except for the breathing hole he created.  In the second one the female had been completely under the ice but when we got a bit too close she broke through and gave us a warning to stay away from her and her babies.  You can see a chunk of ice on her head.  Gators here are pushing the edge of their range so this is not a normal occurrence for them.  Hopefully we'll warm up and get some rain so we can get back to amphibian field work!