22 April 2010

Frog Colours

In an earlier blog (here), I discussed the Wallace's Flying Frog I had seen at the UBD Belalong Research Centre in Temburong. Then in a subsequent blog (here), I mentioned the issue again, and I included a picture sent to me by my UBD colleague, Ulmar Grafe.

Something that worried me was that the two pictures looked so different ― the frogs were completely different colours!

Today, I saw a report in the Guardian (here), discussing the Heart of Borneo project and how many different species have been discovered as a result of this project. And in this report, there were two pictures side-by-side of the Walllace's Flying Frog, showing how it changes in colour depending on the time of day:It was nice to see this explanation, but it was also splendid to see how the Heart of Borneo project is being celebrated even in UK national newspapers.

It saddens me how little Bruneians know about their own forest, and how few local people have seen creatures like this or even care about them. But I guess if an initiative like the Heart of Borneo project can work towards protecting these amazing creatures, then that is something to be celebrated.