UNCLE FROG WANTS YOU!!
To Become a 'Friend of Frogs'

Frogs and toads need you......the environment needs you....they need your help and so do scientists to find out what is going on with amphibians, but especially frogs and toads.

Get your class involved in surveying frog and toad populations in Minnesota by listening for calls
Teach your students to become the eyes of the scientists to let them know where healthy and malformed frogs/toads are being found
Activities you can do to help frogs and toads and our environment

 

Get Involved in Surveying Frog Populations

CGEE is no longer involved in frog surveying. If you are interested in surveying, go to the Department of Natural Resources Minnesota Frog and Toad Calling Survey website: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteering/frogtoad_survey/index.html

For more information on this survey, click Minnesota Frog and Toad Calling Survey

For information on the United States monitoring program, click here
North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP).

If you are one of our international visitors, check out some of the International web sites in our Frog Resources. Or contact your local, state, provincial, federal wildlife agency or non-governmental environmental groups and ask the staff how you can help to learn more about amphibians and the environment in your country. Get involved with your own environment!

Malformed Frogs--What can I do to help?

Since 1995, increasing numbers of amphibians, but especially frogs and toads, have been found with a number of strange deformities. Students in Minnesota discovered large numbers of deformed frogs in a pond and the national media highlighted this environmental phenomen. This issue is now high on the research agenda of scientists. However, this problem is no longer Minnesota-based, as deformities have been reported from across the US, as well as parts of Canada and even Japan. This international phenomenon is intriguing scientists and is a wonderful example of how students through environmental stewardship can bring an issue like this to the notice of the scientific community and the general public. The photo here shows some students involved in the Thousand Friends of Frogs Project examining a deformed frog.

The causes of this are not yet known, and scientists need more information on where these deformed frogs are being found. In addition, knowing where healthy frogs and toads exist is also helpful to scientists as they can then concentrate their research in certain geographic locations. Remember to stay safe when you are looking for frogs, leave them where they are, even if they are deformed, once you have examined them. Try to catch as many as you can of the same type or species and release them after examination. Get permission to travel across various lands.
If you can not print the data sheet from your web browser, write, e-mail or call us for a copy. So, get involved--go outside and observe frogs!!

Check out the Science Corner of the web site for further information on this strange phenomenon.

Amphibian Activities

Amphibians have certain activities--they jump, breathe, swim and live in a special environment--and so do people--they jump, breathe, swim and live in a special environment. See, we are alike in many ways!! So, let's try to do some activities that help our amphibians friends!!

  1. Participate in one of our surveys listed above with your students.
  2. 'Adopt' a wetland area or other habitats that frogs and other amphibians use. First, get the landowner's permission to adopt the land. Care for the area by cleaning it of any trash and record the changes in this are over time in a journal. You can take notes weekly or monthly and build up a great record of this local area.
  3. Visit some of the web sites listed in the Frog Resources area and learn more about frogs from all around the world.
  4. Borrow some frog-related books from you local library. Check out the list in the Frog Resources.
  5. Check out A Thousand Friends of Frogs Educator Activity Guide and other learning activites.