As a part of the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Fellowship Project, we wrote numerous popular articles and directly engaged with the general public through workshops and awareness programmes. In fact, the local ecological knowledge is profound, but that's not the case with the larger public. They have many local names for the species, including different names for the sexes ( Kuravan and Kurathi). The Purple Frog is popular among the indigenous and local people in its habitat. A Ridged Toad (Duttaphrynus parietalis), endemic to the Western Ghats. It was at this juncture that we realised how generating awareness is as important as research in conservation.Īdd More Images People tend to dismiss frogs and toads as 'good for nothing' animals with slimy or warty skin and don't give them due credit as some of nature's best pest control agents. Especially a species like the Purple Frog, which is largely distributed outside the protected area network.

Without addressing this, we cannot successfully conserve a species. When trying to seek the attention of policymakers or the public to protect an area for its amphibian diversity or an individual species, one always receives a baffled look. The fact that a frog's diet consists of a diverse set of insects is seldom appreciated. For the common person, frogs and toads, nature's best pest control agents, are just ‘good for nothing’ animals. For the general public, frogs are ugly-looking, creepy croakers with slimy or warty skin that sometimes take refuge in their shoe racks, bathrooms or gardens. Even among nature enthusiasts, it is only recently that people have started paying them notice. More than ninety per cent of the 252 amphibian species seen in the Western Ghats are found nowhere else in the world.Īdd More Images After Purple Frogs mate, the female frog piggybacks the male frog to rock crevices in the bed of fast-flowing streams for laying eggs.ĭespite all the significant amphibian wealth in the region, these animals hardly receive any public attention, unlike the larger charismatic mammals. One such hotspot in terms of amphibian diversity is the Western Ghats, especially the southernmost part.

India is home to more than 470 species of amphibians, a high percentage of which is endemic to the region. Then once again, back to the underworld! Even now, we don't know anything about their life underground. A matter of just a couple of hours every year, along with their mates to lay eggs. Still, we know very little about them, and the little that we know is of the brief period when they are above ground. Slowly but surely, we started putting the puzzle together. It took us so many years to understand this curious amphibian. It has been a decade and more since we started studying the Purple Frog, and we've come a long way from when we started. Add More Images Once every year, Purple Frogs emerge from their underground lairs to mate and lay eggs.

Purple tree frog baby blobfish