I wasn't really expecting to find any frogs at West Coast Park that day, although I could hear the calls of Field Frogs from the Paddy closer to the Marsh. But as we got out of the path, I noticed a large dead frog. I moved closer and figured it out as an American Bullfrog.
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This is a native of the U.S. and southern Canada, that has been released into ponds and reservoirs in Singapore as a means of religious merit-making. This is potentially dangerous to the other native species of frogs as American Bullfrogs eat almost anyhting, including their own kind. This leaves less food and space for our native species of frogs, causing their population to decrease. Luckily, this specimen did not manage to survive here and has hence died. If they were to survive, they could populate in such a high number that almost all other living animals here could vanish.
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Well, apart from the American Bullfrog, we spotted another Bullfrog, this one also an introduced species, the Banded Bullfrog. This frog is considered as a highly succesful introduced species, because it is the second most common frog in Singapore. Unlike the American Bullfrog, it has not done much damage to our eco-system as this frog feed mainly on ants and termites. Here are a few pictures we took.
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It was originally resting on the underside of a small piece of wood. I have seen this frog many times, but I never cared to photograph it as it was such a common species. And most of the time I had an encounter with this frog, I did not have my camera with me. This time I did, so I decided to take two shots of it.
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