YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

By Judy Lehmberg (biopicsbyjudylehmberg on Facebook and www.vernelehmberg.com)

As you move from the earth’s equator either north or south the species diversity decreases. Columbia, in South America, has over twice as many species of birds as in all of the United States. I mention that because Yellowstone has a much smaller species diversity than many areas closer to the equator. It only has four species of amphibians and we recently found three of them in one snow melt pool, the blotched tiger salamander, the Columbia spotted frog, and my favorite, the boreal chorus frog.

The blotched tiger salamander is common in creeks leading into the Yellowstone River, small lakes and ponds. We used to camp at Slough Creek Campground frequently. One night we came back to the campground well after dark and found hundreds of salamanders crossing the road going from pond to pond. Once we realized they were there I got out of our van and moved them off the road as my husband drove slowly behind me. I don’t know how many salamanders we killed that night but it was a lot. We have also seen otters eat them in Trout and Buck Lakes. Mama otters will play keep-away with her babies with any trout she catches but she will readily give them salamanders. Watching them eat salamanders reminds me of someone eating a popsicle.

The Columbia spotted frog is about 3 and ½ inches long and breeds in Yellowstone’s rivers, creeks, lakes, marshes, and temporary snow melt ponds. Like all frogs their fertilization is external. The male grabs the female to stimulate her to release eggs and then he releases sperm on top of the eggs. I don’t know if these two have released their sperm and eggs yet, but I do know the male is the one grabbing the female.

Boreal chorus frogs are my favorite because their call is so out of proportion to their size. They are only an inch to an inch and a half long but if you were surrounded by a dozen calling chorus frogs you would want to put your fingers in your ears. I really like their call but it can be so loud as to be almost deafening. I hear them in my head hours after I have left them in their ponds. If you want to hear then go to http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/minute_chorusfrogs.htm Boreal chorus frogs range in color from grayish to bright green. They have the unusual ability to freeze solid in the winter during hibernation. Of course the real trick is not that they freeze, but that when spring comes and they thaw out, they are alive. That truly is a remarkable ability.