Living My Learning Down Under

In my research assistantship at the Australian Museum, I spend my days on a computer listening to recordings of frog calls. I’ve read about and listened to my six study species for hours on end, but I had never seen most of them in the wild…

This weekend I went “herping” with a colleague from the Australian Museum. In other words, we traversed the forests of Australia looking for snakes, skinks, geckos, and frogs, collectively called “herps.” Our goal was to survey some species for ongoing research projects and photograph as many species as possible.

Success feels like an understatement. 

It was pouring rain Sunday night, which is a frog’s favorite weather.

So I got to meet some of my study species in the wild.

And witnessed the beautiful diversity of Australian frogs. 

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In all, I saw eighteen frog species I had never seen before! And that’s less than 10% of the total frog species throughout Australia!

I’ve been learning about these frogs for a few months, and I finally got to live what I’ve learned when I heard and saw them in the wild this weekend. Who wouldn’t want to be a biologist?! I certainly know I’m on the right path, and that I won’t stop living my learning when my time down under comes to an end.

Disclaimer: Always be cautious when observing wildlife. Do not touch or handle wild animals unless you are trained to. Human interactions with wildlife causes stress to the animal and promotes infectious disease transmission. I was with a trained herpetologist conducting research when these photos were taken.