Taipei Zoo’s Amphibian and Reptile House yesterday announced that Fleischmann’s glass frogs at the zoo had laid a clutch of eggs that had metamorphosed and were taking to the trees, their natural habitat.
The frogs, like other glass frogs, are named for their near-translucent skin. Fleischmann’s glass frogs, or Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni, are most commonly found in the tropical forests of Central and South America, and are nocturnal and arboreal, the zoo said.
The frogs are small and delicate, with adults growing to 2cm to 3cm in length, it said, adding that they are adept at climbing.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
It is interesting to see them open their eyes, it said. Watching their large, protruding eyes emerge looks a lot like pop-up headlights opening on a car.
The primarily green frogs can change color with their surroundings, providing them with excellent camouflage, the zoo said.
Their reproduction practices are interesting, with the female frog typically laying a clutch of eggs on the underside of a leaf near a stream, the zoo said.
Once the tadpoles hatch, they drop into the water, where they burrow into mud until they have matured into young frogs, at which point they take to the trees, the zoo said.
The average hatching time is two to three weeks, while it takes five or six months for the tadpole to metamorphose into a frog, the zoo said.
The current batch of junior frogs have all resumed arboreal life, although it would take sharp eyes to spot them given their size, the zoo said.
Glass frogs tend to sit on the undersides of leaves, which helps them hide from predators, it said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by