A Special Discovery
After being in the Yachana Reserve in Ecuador with GVI Amazon for a total of 12 months now you would think you’re getting to know the reserve and its residents pretty well. And then something surprising happens.
We recently had a new species of tree frog to the reserve jump quite literally into our hands. One of our long term interns, Michael Kelly, was walking past a shrub right in the middle of camp when a frog jumped onto his arm. Screaming in delight (or surprise, possibly even fear – we’re not quite sure) he alerted staff and other volunteers to take a look.
Phrynohyas coriacea is a type of milk tree frog which produced an irritating milky substance from its skin when it feels threatened. 
These frogs are nocturnal and highly arboreal (they live high up in trees), coming down at night to feed and breed when conditions are right. It is a beautiful frog with a distinct rectangular dark blotch on the dorsum (top) with red webbing in between the toes and beautiful golden eyes.
This frog (aka ‘Dave’) was later prepared as a specimen to be taken to the Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales (MECN, or the natural science museum in Quito). As Fraser was extracting a tissue sample from poor little Dave one volunteers exclaimed “Now this is a new level of strange things I’ve done on a Saturday night!”
Jasmine Rowe, GVI Amazon Field Staff
2 comments:
Well done Michael - just shows what yo can achieve when you stay focussed!! I hope Dave survived the tissue sampling.....
Well done Michael - just goes to show what you can accomplish when you stay focussed!! I hope 'Dave' survived the tissue sampling........
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