micstarz
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- Michael
Hi everyone. I just wish to share my findings of wild Hymenochirus boettgeri and their tadpoles in their natural geographical origin: Nairobi, Kenya! This was how it happened, 5 months ago at the end of June:
It was two days into my family vacation in Nairobi, and we were staying at the Mount Kenya Safari Club. After lunch, I was bored, and being a fish nut, I was naturally attracted to bodies of water. It so happened that while I was chasing a peacock (being a 14 year old boy) that I found a small pond, which was concrete structured and sunk into the earth. The pond was a natural one, but had been lined with concrete for aesthetic reasons. Half the water was evaporated, and the remaining water was tea-colored and stagnant. With no effort at all, I spotted dozens of African Dwarf Frogs on the pond bottom! Their filter feeding larvae were also abundant. I was able to catch some for observation, provided with a container by the helpful staff. One thing that puzzles me, however, is that I cannot identify any possible food source whatsoever. I do not recall seeing any other organisms in the water. One of my theories are that the adult frogs have entered the pond and spawned. The tadpoles, however, can sustain themselves on the micro-organisms in the pond, while the adults, which are trapped in the pond by the concrete ledge, survive on meager mosquito larvae findings.
IMPORTANT EDIT: Place replace all references to Hymenochirus boesttgeri with Xenopus laevis
It was two days into my family vacation in Nairobi, and we were staying at the Mount Kenya Safari Club. After lunch, I was bored, and being a fish nut, I was naturally attracted to bodies of water. It so happened that while I was chasing a peacock (being a 14 year old boy) that I found a small pond, which was concrete structured and sunk into the earth. The pond was a natural one, but had been lined with concrete for aesthetic reasons. Half the water was evaporated, and the remaining water was tea-colored and stagnant. With no effort at all, I spotted dozens of African Dwarf Frogs on the pond bottom! Their filter feeding larvae were also abundant. I was able to catch some for observation, provided with a container by the helpful staff. One thing that puzzles me, however, is that I cannot identify any possible food source whatsoever. I do not recall seeing any other organisms in the water. One of my theories are that the adult frogs have entered the pond and spawned. The tadpoles, however, can sustain themselves on the micro-organisms in the pond, while the adults, which are trapped in the pond by the concrete ledge, survive on meager mosquito larvae findings.
IMPORTANT EDIT: Place replace all references to Hymenochirus boesttgeri with Xenopus laevis
