Tropical Tree Frog - - (Hyla Rosenbergi?)

Wildlife Note Card Photography by Steven Holt

The call of this large tropical tree frog sounds like someone knocking on a door. Measuring six inches from nose to tail, this frog lives in the Choco rainforest along the Pacific coast of northwestern Ecuador and southwestern Columbia. With an annual rainfall of 500 to 750 inches, the Choco is one of the wettest rainforests on earth. Under pressure from expanding human populations, rainforests are being destroyed at alarming rates. Bulldozers carve roads through virgin forests and people follow, slashing and burning the forest for agriculture. In just the last few years, scientists have documented catastrophic population declines in many frog species and at least one extinction. This worldwide decline does not appear to be primarily due to habitat destruction since frogs are also declining in apparently pristine areas. Some scientists theorize that the eggs of many frog species are being killed by ultraviolet light levels that are increased by thinning of the stratospheric ozone layer.

Special thanks to Keith Iding for scanning the cards.