Stream Walk Wonders

One of the highlights of the week on GVI Amazon has been the night time stream walk. Stream walks are a lot of fun as it is the best chance to see all sorts of animals out in the forest, such as different types of frogs, snakes, crayfish, spiders, opossums and even sleeping birds.

Wading up to our waists in water with light only supplied by our head torches, we found all sorts of creatures, including a huge Smokey Jungle Frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus), Blunt-headed Tree Snake (Imantodes cenchoa), Green-striped Vine Snake (Oxybelis argenteus), Water Opossum (Chironectes minimus), and plenty of mammal prints in the sand. Just nearing a ginormous fig tree, a stunning white and olive frog sitting quietly on a leaf blade caught my eye. Something I’d never seen before, even in our identification plates, I wondered what on earth it was as I stealthily caught it in a plastic frog bag. Was it a new species to the reserve? Excitement built up.

We took it back to camp to show it to other staff and volunteers and to ID it. Such a pretty, dainty little frog at only about one inch long, we determined it to be a juvenile Amazonian Milk Treefrog, or Trachycephalus resinifictrix. These frogs are called Milk Frogs due to a toxic milk-coloured skin secretion that is exuded when handled or injured. Growing to an adult size of three inches long, these frogs live and breed in water-containing tree holes and although common, are seldom seen. Although already on our reserve species list, it’s very exciting to find species that we don’t commonly see such as this little guy, so bring on more stream walks and surveys!

Jasmine Rowe - GVI Amazon Field Staff

Stream Walk Wonders