Toads are frogs adapted to a life ondrier land. They have a rough skin,and hardly any webbing on theirfeet. Two species of toads(Duttaphrynus) are found inBangalore: Common Toad D.melanosticuts (above) andFerguson’s Toad D. scaber (below).

Bull Frogs (Hoplobatrachus) arelarge aquatic frogs once used fordissections in class. Males are verycombative during the breeding sea-son. Jerdon’s Bull Frog H. crassus(above) has a distinct and visibleear drum. The Indian Bull Frog H.tigerinus (below) male turns yellowin the breeding season and has acobalt blue vocal sac.

Burrowing frogs are known to wrig-gle backwards into soft squelchyearth, to hide completely and falltorpid. They have a small diggingapparatus on their hind limbs.Bangalore has the Indian BurrowingFrog Sphaerotheca breviceps(above) and Roland’s BurrowingFrog S. rolandae (below).

The frogs in this panel and the nexttwo, are unique in having a visiblynarrow mouth (gape), which is per-haps linked to their habit of pickingup prey from the ground, rather thangrab them from the air. The PaintedFrog Kaloula taprobanica (above)and Variegated Ramanella FrogRamanella variegata (below) havedilated toes, linked to a climbing

habit, and are often found in treeholes. The Ornate Narrow-mouthedFrog Microhyla ornata (above) andthe Red Narrow-mouthed Frog M.rubra (below) are extremely small,just about 2cm in length and arealso known to burrow into soil.

Balloon Frogs burrow into wet loosesoil and remain there through sum-mer. They are slow on the groundand have an indistinct ear drum.Indian Balloon Frog Uperodon glob-ulosus (above) and Marbled BalloonFrog U. systoma (below) have beenrecorded from Bangalore.

The only floating frogs, theCommon Skittering Frog Euphlyctiscyanophlyctis (above) and the Six-toed Frog E. hexadactylus (below)are aquatic. The Six-toed Frog hasa tubercle which appears as anadditional toe. The former has ahabit of skimming over the surfaceof the water and escaping whendisturbed.

The Bicoloured Frog Clinotarsuscurtipes (above), is an aquatic frogwhich is very rare in Bangalore. Hasa habit of sitting upright. Known tomass migrate to water for breeding;the froglets are known to move outenmass too.

The Wrinkled Frog Fejervaryacaperata (above) is a semi aquaticfrog with a dark vocal sac and anivory white belly. Has longitudinalridges on the back.Their calls go onfor long stretches at a time and arereminicent of a chant.

The Common Tree Frog (above)Polypedates maculatus is the onlytree frog found in Bangalore. Disksat the tips of digits are characteris-tic. They can land up behind pictureframes, curtains & the like, on walls.Legs are long & they can jump well.

B a n g a l o r e ’ sB a n g a l o r e ’ s

F r o g s a t R i s k !F r o g s a t R i s k !

This poster has all the 17species of Amphibiansrecorded from Bangaloreso far. It is an attempt tobring the frogs and toadsone leap closer to ourhearts!

Frogs and toads havereceived much attention inour fables and in history.Their role in controllinginsects, and their impor-tance in the food chain arewell known. But still, withthe increased pace ofurbanization and theunprecedented growth ofBangalore, frogs and toadsare losing the race. We justhave not done enough forthem.

Draining of water-bodiesand climate change in gen-eral are affecting their sur-vival. Vehicular traffic takesits toll in two ways. Firstly,they are often run over byvehicles, and secondly,increased traffic noiseaffects their breedingbehaviour. Noise renderstheir calls inaudible.

While it is impossible tocurtail the growth of a city,a little ecological considera-tion, will go a long way inconserving these beautifullife forms. Frog friendlylandscape design wouldsurely help in their survival.

Photo-credits: Duttaphrynus scaber , Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis, Fejervarya caperata, Hoplobatrachus tigerinus and Polypedates maculatus by Gururaja KV; Hoplobatrachus crassus by Anil Zacharia; Kaloula taprobanica by Aravind NA; and Uperodon globulosa by David Raju. All the rest by Seshadri KS.

Bangalore’s Frogs at Risk! by Seshadri KS, Krishna MB and Sunil Kumar M (2012) . With thanks to Gururaja KV, Karthikeyan S, Ravi Menon and Arul Mani. With love from Joshua, Ruby and Prem Koshy.