The Book of Frogs : A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from around the World, Second Edition

With almost nine thousand known species, frogs display a stunning array of forms and behaviors. A single gram of the toxin produced by the skin of the Golden Poison Frog can kill one hundred thousand people. Male Darwin’s Frogs carry their tadpoles in their vocal sacs for sixty days before coughing them out into the world. And the Wood Frogs of North America freeze every winter, reanimating in the spring.The Book of Frogs documents the diversity and magnificence of all these anurans and many more. Readers meet six hundred of nature’s most fascinating frogs, with each entry including a distribution map, illustrations, species identification, natural history, and conservation status. Color photos show the frogs at their actual size-from Papua New Guinea’s diminutive Paedophryne amauensis, smaller than a coin, to Cameroon’s colossal Goliath Frog, heavier than some dogs. Written by experts Mark O’Shea and Tim Halliday and containing updated information on one hundred species and nearly twenty new entries, this revised edition will enthrall both veteran researchers and amateur herpetologists.As frogs increasingly make headlines for their troubling worldwide decline, The Book of Frogs brings readers face to face with six hundred astonishingly unique and irreplaceable species that display a diverse array of adaptations to habitats that are ever changing.Contents: IntroductionWhat is a frog? Complex life cycle An acoustic world Frogs, toads & people Population declines Amphibian diseases Distribution & classification Why the number of frog species is increasingThe frogsAppendices Glossary Resources A note on nomenclature Index of common names Index of scientific names Index of family names Acknowledgments