In 1990 scientists noted an alarming fact from California, Colorado, and Wyoming to Brazil, Switzerland, and Japan, frogs were disappearing. Recognizing that frogs are a living barometer of earths environmental health, a number of biologists set out to find out why. Is this human folly or a quirk of nature doing amphibians in?

Leaving the water and moving into trees and on land allowed the descendants of the early amphibians to colonize a wide range of new habitats. Some species spent their entire lives in the topmost levels of the trees.

The word amphibian comes from the Greek anphi and bios meaning double life. They can live or function both on land and in water.

Some frogs and toads carry their eggs or tadpoles on their backs or in a skin pocket, others store their eggs inside the body, in vocal -sacks or even into the stomach. Two species of toads give birth to live young that are tiny versions of their adult selves.

Frog calls are inherited, unique and species specific and are primarily used for recognition and reproductive efforts

Their ability to leap is amazing with the worlds distance record for frog jumping at 33.5 feet in three consecutive jumps or an average of 17.5 feet per jump.

Frogs and toads have shared the world of humans as far back as our species memory extends. With their huge eyes, their quadruped bodies, their love of and need for water and their eerie voices, frogs and toads are both distantly alien to humans and uncannily like us.

The type of watery home that Izzy relies upon for survival is actually a combination of clean water, healthy plants, and animals, called a freshwater ecosystem. The quality of any freshwater ecosystem is shaped by activities on the surrounding land. Wherever we work, play or sleep, we are part of a territory which drains into a stream, pond or river. That is, we carry out our daily activities in one or more drainage basins—or watersheds—and a significant portion of the water (from rain or snow) that falls on our homes or playing fields or streets makes its way downhill into a river or stream that is supporting the likes of Izzy.

Every water body in Connecticut—even a backyard brook—has its own watershed. And there are watersheds within watersheds; the Park River Watershed, which consists of 77.2 square miles just south of Hartford (pictured below), is nested in the larger the Connecticut River Basin, which in turn comprises part of the watershed for Long Island Sound.

Because of their dual life on land and in water, frogs are a great barometer of the health of an ecosystem. The skin of frogs is thin, permeable, and often wet or coated in mucus. These traits allow the frog to effectively breathe and drink through their skin! These traits also make frogs very susceptible to foreign pollutants. It is not a good idea to handle an amphibian if there are any chemicals (bug spray, lotion, etc.) on your hands because it can be absorbed through the frogs skin and potentially kill it. When waters become polluted with fertilizer, pesticide, oil, and other chemicals, the frog may passively absorb the pollutant and become sick or die. The pollutant could also have an effect of the hormones of tadpoles as they develop which can lead to sterile adults.