Category Archives: Froggy Foibles

You can now stay at a Winnie-the-Pooh-inspired cottage in East Sussex, England — and it’s so sweet that even Eeyore is smiling. The “Bearbnb,” which is situated in Ashdown Forest, the setting for A.A. Milne’s children’s classic, is available to book on Airbnb as part of Disney’s 95th anniversary celebration. It sleeps up to four guests and is hosted by artist Kim Raymond, who has been drawing Pooh for more than 30 years. …The whimsical one-bedroom abode is built into the the base of a tree with exposed branches. During each stay, families will be taken on a guided tour through the enchanted Hundred Acre Wood and play Poohsticks on Poohsticks Bridge. 

UK — More than 70 women have “married” trees to protest against their deforestation in the UK. The environmental organisers planned the ceremony in response to a planning application that is set to build 166 apartments where 74 mature trees currently reside in Bristol. …Even though the marriage is not legally binding, the women are confident they’re making their voices heard in the fight to preserve local nature. …The idea of marrying a part of our natural environment has raised skepticism and mockery in some parts of the discourse surrounding this event. “I really don’t want to be a part of this world anymore. Are there any normal planets around I can go to?” wrote one Twitter user.

From cottagecore to mermaidcore, it can be difficult keeping up with the latest ‘core’ aesthetic taking over social media. The latest Gen Z, TikTok-driven blog trend to wrap your head around? Well, it’s an unusual one to say the least – say hello to ‘goblincore’. Far more user-friendly than it sounds, goblincore is less about small mythical creatures and more about embracing a wholesome, woodsy vibe. The emphasis is on comfort, grounding and nature – but in an earthier, darker and more realistic way… Key motifs include fungi, snails, moss and frogs, and there’s a focus on natural fabrics and colours – with, of course, a faint whiff of the supernatural. …it’s mostly about spending time in nature – and if the pandemic has taught us nothing else, it’s the value of that.

No music, no voices, just the sound of the forest coming to life early one morning near Canberra — where the gum trees grow small and with twisting white trunks. In the twilight of the morning I creep out from under the covers to set up the microphones right next to a dam. We are on the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and not far away there are paddocks, livestock, a road and a farmhouse. But right here all there is, is nature waking up for the day. Listen for the drops of dew falling from the gumtrees and onto the leaf-litter below.

Everything is dark. There’s no one around. The raindrops fall heavily. Suddenly, the call ― it’s time to dig. The man digs with his bare hands until he is covered in mud. But he keeps going. His goal is to find the enigmatic creature making that unique call ― a sound that has never been heard before. At first sight, this scene could be part of a horror or a mystery movie. But it has nothing to do with the zombie apocalypse. This is how German herpetologist (an expert on amphibians and reptiles) Raffael Ernst described his experience trying to identify frogs in the Amazon. And the effort paid off. Ernst was part of the discovery of a new species, which has been dubbed the “Zombie Frog.” Its orange-spotted appearance is indeed quite peculiar, but the 40-millimeter (1.5 inches) amphibian is not an undead monster.

Researchers in the misty mountains of the Ecuadorian Andes have discovered a new species of terrestrial frog and named it after the pioneering British rock band Led Zeppelin. Pristimantis ledzeppelin, known in English as Led Zeppelin’s Rain Frog, was found by the scientists David Brito-Zapata and Carolina Reyes-Puig, which straddles south-east Ecuador and north-east Peru. The small frog, which has coppery-red eyes and a mottled, yellow, brown, black and orange skin, is a member of the huge and rapidly expanding Pristimantis genus.  …“The name honours Led Zeppelin and their extraordinary music,” the pair explain in the journal. They warn that Pristimantis ledzeppelin risks being trampled underfoot as the rich biodiversity of its habitat is endangered.

This video will mesmerize you! Sent in by Denise – thanks for sharing. 

As plenty of businesses have been affected by quarantine, many have begun to look for ways to unload their overstocked supply of product. For the Guinness brewery in Ireland, that meant coming up with a way to use up all their leftover kegs from bars closing around the world. What they decided to do was use that beer to fertilize Christmas trees as part of an environmentally friendly forestry project. …Guinness went around collecting kegs that would have otherwise gone to waist. ““The vast majority of the beer goes to willow and Christmas tree plantations, it’s used as nutrients in those farms,” said Aidan Crowe, director of operations at the brewery. Hopefully the trees grow quickly so beer fans can have their Guinness tree by Christmas.

Gold prospectors first discovered the so-called Shigir Idol in Russia’s Ural mountain range in 1890… the oldest known surviving work of wooden ritual art in the world. More than a century after its discovery… new research suggests the sculpture was crafted about 12,500 years ago, at the end of the Last Ice Age. Its ancient creators carved the work from a single larch tree with 159 growth rings, the authors write in the study. According to Sarah Cascone of Artnet News, the new findings indicate that the rare artwork predates Stonehenge, which was created around 5,000 years ago, by more than 7,000 years. It’s also twice as old as the Egyptian pyramids, which date to roughly 4,500 years ago.

Before frat parties, there were frog ponds. Literal breeding grounds for some of the world’s noisiest bachelors, these lusty pools are where amphibians gather to woo mates. …Some spots host hundreds of males from a dozen species, each belting out serenades that can register at more than 100 decibels apiece—close to what you’d hear at a rock concert. Sounds this intense can cause hearing loss… When scientists visit these ponds, they often don earplugs. “It hurts our ears,” says Kim Hoke, a biologist at Colorado State University. …If frogs of the female persuasion can’t identify their own species’ calls in this terrifying soundscape, they may lose out on an opportunity to reproduce. Fortunately, evolution has come up with a clever trick… [their lungs accomplish this by] muffling the ruckus of other species. Frog lungs, Lee’s team has shown, are basically noise-canceling headphones that also happen to oxygenate the blood.

Archaeologists digging on the banks of the Vesle River near Reims in northern France in 2008 unearthed something unusual. They found three large and remarkably well-preserved ancient Roman wooden wine barrels. …The barrels were constructed almost exclusively from materials harvested in Northern Europe: the barrel staves were made from European silver fir, the hoops from hazelnut tree saplings, and the sealant from  pine wood pitch . The barrels were built to hold up to 317 gallons of wine, which would be enough to fill 1,500 bottles manufactured to modern-day standards. …The Roman wine barrels are now on public display in Reims, at an exhibition sponsored by the French wine-making company Champagne Taittinger.