IC Broadcasting’s Island Symbiosis – Listening to Taiwan: Listen to our podcast as we count frogs in Fuyang Park at night

Photograph taken by Yu-Wen Chen, a trusted photographer for National Geographic

“One male, LaTouche’s frog on the forest floor!”

“Another male, Meintein tree frog in the bush!”

“Two spot-legged tree frogs in the pond!”

The sun has set, the sky is growing darker, it is 7 p.m. in the evening on Saturday August 13th. A group of frog surveyers, adults and children, from the Society of Wilderness (SOW) gather at the entrance of the Fuyang Eco Park. After measuring and recording the temperature and humidity, everyone with a torch in hand set about to search for frogs in the park at night!

Why do a frog survey in Fuyang Eco Park? SOW volunteer, Shao-Rong Lu (nature name: Cloud) indicated that, Fuyang Eco Park is one of the places in Taiwan where Associate Professor Yi-Ju Yang of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies at National Dong Hwa University conducts frog surveys. Fuyang Eco Park was formerly a military armory. To preserve the rich ecological resources in the area, the SOW adopted the park in 2004 and organized frog surveys to better understand the ecological changes in the park ever since its adoption.

SOW Habitat Conservation specialist, Pai-Hsien Chen, said that frog surveys in Fuyang Park are generally held half an hour after sunset, every second Saturday of each month. A team of frog surveyers would search for frogs along a specific route, one person would take records, while the rest would observe and search. Once a frog is sighted, the species, sex, life cycle (froglet or frog), and type of habitat would be recorded. If frog calls are heard, only the specie and quantity can be determined based on the sound.

On this day, the survey lasted from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The frogs recorded were mostly spot-legged tree frogs, which are invasive species. Other observations included meintein tree frog, Boie's wart frog, LaTouche’s frog, and very few bufo bankorensis. We also spotted two snakelets, Oligodon formosanus and brown-spotted pit viper, as well as two masked palm civets hiding in the woods, watching us counting frogs in the park.

In this episode, we take you on a frog-counting trip in Fuyang Eco Park to learn about the ecological problems that the park is facing. Remember, next time you take a stroll in Fuyang Park, please walk quietly so as to not disturb the wild animals’ habitat. Together, let’s protect the beauty of nature.