Frogs and Family

In light of my last post, I am interested to see what conservation efforts are like here in Bolivia. While I was working in the National Park this summer, part of my responsibilities included counting waterbirds every week, and entering my results in a database that could be accessed in National Parks all over the country. If anyone wanted to know how many marbled murrelets there were in Alaska in July, for example, they could get a pretty good idea from the Park Service's Inventory and Monitoring program.

Bolivia does not quite have this system set up yet. As I am doing some research about my upcoming Lake Titicaca frog-counting project, I am realizing that frog scientists are not yet at the point of observing population numbers and habits. Instead, they are struggling to define what frog species are actually out there. Most of the struggle lies in the fact that there are very few frogs left in the country. Anecdotally, everyone remembers seeing many frogs here and there, but in recent years, disease and habitat destruction have shrunk these populations to almost nothing. Frog scientists are struggling to find any frogs at all.

While Chytrid fungus and urban sprawl play their part, the most sensational threat to the frog population in Lake Titicaca is human consumption. Some reports state that 150 of these frogs are eaten every day! Nutritious? Perhaps, but the primary reason for frog ingestion is to increase libido. Instead of a blue pill, frog soup is administered for this particular ailment.


Gross!!

Anyways, I am looking forward to my trip and I'm sure I will talk too much about frogs in future posts.

On another note, I wanted to put up some pictures of my family for you all to see. This Saturday was beautiful! It had been raining for a couple of days, but Saturday was sunny and nice. We went swimming at a golf course a little ways out of town. (This half and hour drive is even more terrifying then driving in the city. Suddenly there are three lanes with no lane markers with the same pedestrian/dog traffic! I don't know how people do it.)


Ben, Ximena, and Rodrigo eating Cherimoya, a delicious fruit that is almost exactly like eating fruity sherbert.


Cherimoya--a close up.


Cid showing off his very wild nature.

And finally, because I just think it's so amazing, this picture:


This is the parking lot outside of a major grocery store. Most people agree that they like the trees better than the pavement anyways, so no big deal.