A Field Study of the Kansas Ant-Eating Frog, Gastrophryne olivaceaFitch, Henry S. (Henry Sheldon)
Science
A Field Study of the Kansas Ant-Eating Frog, Gastrophryne olivacea
Fitch, Henry S. (Henry Sheldon)
Frogs
The natural enemies include young of the copperhead. The bullfrog and
leopard frog probably take heavy toll of both the adults and the newly
metamorphosed young at the breeding ponds. Reproductive success of the
ant-eating frogs was much greater in 1954 when these ranids were
unusually scarce. The short-tailed shrew is an important enemy. On
occasion it took heavy toll of frogs trapped in pitfalls, and many of
the larger adults were scarred or mutilated from bites, probably of the
shrew.
Each of several frogs was found consistently under the same rock for
periods of weeks. The hundreds of other frogs that were marked were
rarely found twice in any one spot. Usually an individual recaptured
after weeks or months was still near the original site. In many
instances the distance involved was only a few yards, but there is some
evidence that home ranges may be as long as 400 feet in greatest
diameter. Of those caught in two or more different years only 15 per
cent were shown to have moved more than 400 feet. These few
exceptionally long movements, up to 2000 feet, involve shifts in home
range or migrations motivated by reproductive urge.
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