by: Susan Rubinowitz
petsplace.com
Frogs must be onto something. They learned to dart out of
the path of dinosaurs 200 million years ago and survived long
after those giants perished. Today you can find a frog on
every continent but Antarctica, in ponds, rainforests or undistinguished
backyards, glimmering in a skin of pearly blue or vivid garnet
– or happy to be just an ordinary green frog, splashing
in a child’s aquarium.
For some people, frogs and their relatives, toads, are weirdly
bug-eyed, slimy creatures better left on a mud flat. But an
extraordinary number of people are – well, frog people.
For these humans, the implacable frog represents rejuvenation,
peaceful karma and all-knowing wisdom.
Many frog-lovers keep their pets in simple aquariums that
combine water and some land, or in a man-made pond outdoors
that’s been left to natural algae growth so it attracts
the insects frogs savor. Others frog fans are fanatic about
frog images – from cheap, plastic toys to expensive
carvings.
The Frog Collectors
Ivana Trump, the high-society entrepeneur/actress once married
to The Donald, collects frog miniatures. And even President
Clinton became a frog collector of sorts – although
he may wish he never saw one. Former Independent Counsel Ken
Starr’s report on the affair between President Clinton
and Monika Lewinsky noted that, among the gifts the young
woman sent Clinton, were "a wooden letter opener with
a frog on the handle... (and) a plastic pocket frog.’’
Cultures around the world have linked the frog to rain, the
moon, fertility and metamorphosis – because of the frog’s
dramatic change from a tadpole. Some people believe those
who feel a kinship to frogs can sense other people’s
feelings and sympathize more easily.
Favorite Species
"I think amphibians are the favorite of all the species
for some people, because they seem to be a symbol of quiet
wetlands. They have a certain placid quality, a comical and
non-threatening quality,’’ said Jud Newborn, a
cultural anthropologist who keeps frogs in his backyard pond
on Long Island.
But Newborn said the growing popularity of frogs –
fed by images like Kermit – doesn’t seem to go
hand in hand with any increased effort to protect them. ``I
have the uncomfortable feeling that the more a species becomes
endangered, threatened or disappearing, the more people start
transforming them into fetishes,’’ said Newborn.
The frog’s skin is so thin that scientists believe
it’s the first animal to react to toxic substances in
the environment. Researchers are closely studying pollutants
as a possible cause for deformities in Minnesota frogs in
recent years, and Clinton has asked Congress to fund more
research.
Laurie Caple, a children’s book illustrator from Rice
Lake, Wis., has designed frog prints to raise money for the
Minnesota frog-preservation project. As a frog lover, she
couldn’t stand by, she said.
"Oh, gosh, I think they’re fascinating; I think
they’re beautiful," said Caple, who likes to watch
frogs climb her window at night to catch bugs.
She quoted a Senegalese philosopher, Baba Dioum: ``In the
end we will conserve only what we love; we will love what
we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught,’’
she said.
Copyright Petsplace.com
Reprinted from http://petplace.netscape.com/articles/artShow.asp?artID=1178
