Blunt-headed Burrowing Frog

Image: Khunpolrattachana
Glyphoglossus molossus

Now that is a face.

Or... most of one, at least.

The Blues VII

Image: Cláudio Dias Timm
Porphyrospiza caerulescens

Uh oh! It's that time of year again when all looks lost, all looks cold, all looks... blue. Blue Monday strikes again. The attic groans under the weight of Christmas decorations already laden with a thin layer of dust. Christmas gifts have lost their lustre and joined the rest of your belongings as mere possessions cluttering your life. And if you don't follow through with your New Year's resolutions this time, you'll have to get a new Christmas jumper to ease over that ever-expanding belly.

But worry not! Or continue worrying, just be sure to do it with friends. Friends like the Blue Finch.

Seventh Seal of the Hallowe'en Horrors

It's Halloween! That time of year when we eat humble pie with death, eat a whole bottle of bitter pills with darkness and eat lead with evil. Woo!

Shovel-nosed Salamander

Image: Todd Pierson
Desmognathus marmoratus

Hmmm...

I think I would call it the People-eyed Salamander.

YAWN!

Video: Dr N Kimura

At up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) long, the Japanese Giant Salamander is the second biggest amphibian in the world, second only to its closely related and almost identical, Chinese cousin.

Seeing them yawn is, well, you know how Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale? This is probably about as close as you can get without getting your feet wet.

African Clawed Frog

Image: Brian Gratwicke

When you see the unconventionally cute face of an African Clawed Frog, you'd be hard-pressed to imagine you were looking into the beady eyes of a ravenous, meat-eating beast.

The Blues V

Image: Hiyashi Haka
Lamprotornis caudatus

It's time for the blues! Either that or I'm a week late... Oh dear. Failure upon failure! Blues upon blues! Well, I guess it makes sense, really. Blues are eternal, after all. Haven't you heard? It's blues all the way down! At least on this page...

Bullock's Mountain False Toad

Image: Edgardo Flores
Telmatobufo bullocki

Holy moley, that's one warty not-toad!

Siren

Image: Zruda

Sirens? Bah! Don't talk to me about Sirens. They sit on the rocks looking prettier than a dolphin. Sing better, too. And they're deadlier than... a dolphin. Essentially they're like sexy-but-evil dolphins. They sing to the sailors, and their song is death. It wreaks havoc on the tourism industry.

Err... not that kind of Siren.

Cuyaba Dwarf Frog

Image: Felipe Gomes
Eupemphix nattereri

It's a frog with eyes in the back of his... end.

Panamanian Golden Frog

Image: e_monk
Atelopus zeteki

The toad that just wants to say hi!

Mutable Rainfrog

Pristimantis mutabilis

A tale of loss, discovery and a shape-shifting frog, set in the mountain forests of South America.

Frog can NOT believe his eyes!

Video: bytez

OMG!

Image: John Clare
Lemur Leaf Frog (Hylomantis lemur)

Shocked!

Bell's False Brook Salamander

Image: Sean Michael Rovito
Pseudoeurycea bellii

Wow! What a beauty!

Banded Bull Frog

Image: Thomas Brown
Kaloula pulchra

A small frog with an ENORMOUS frog bursting to get out!

Crucifix Frog

Image: eyeweed
Notaden bennettii

The brutal, Roman execution device is now a snazzy pattern on a plump frog...

Metamorphosis complete!

Call Forth the Hallowe'en Horrors

It's Halloween! That time of year when we listen for the lifting of coffin lids with death, eavesdrop on the whispering chants of mournful forests with darkness and hear the lamentation of our enemies as we drive them before us and crush their women with evil. Woo!

Behold Death. He's taken up gardening. Or so he claims. I don't think he's supposed to bury the seeds 6 feet deep. And aren't you meant to take them off the tree first?

Here be Darkness. She's teaching the ghouls how to cook. It's quite easy because the ghouls eat raw meat but her three-tier offal cake with carved bone colonnade is quite a sight!

Yonder is Evil. He's dressed up in a long, white robe with a little cardboard halo fixed onto his head with a piece of wire. He does that every year but it's hilarious every time!
Let's see who joined the party this year!

Axolotl and the Fountain of Youth

Image: John Clare
Ambystoma mexicanum

Botox, facelifts, miraculous anti-ageing cream and hair loss pills, Viagra... These are our weapons of choice in our never-ending battle against the arrow of time and the tragic effects of its inescapable, slow-acting poison.

It's all useless of course. We can fill our days with as much old people yoga and sudoku puzzles as we like, we'll still end up looking like an unmade bed who can't remember why it went to the bedroom.

Not so Axolotls. They watch our efforts and smirk their childlike smirk. They with their silky smooth skin aglow, their sparkling eyes a-twinkle and their vibrant red gills aloft like lusciously hirsute tentacles. Not for them the wrinkling and the crinkling, the aching and the waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. For them, life is a sea of unceasing youth.

Bastards.

Image: John Clare

Axolotls start their life like many other amphibians: as a small punctuation mark surrounded in jelly.

Image: John Clare

The embryonic Axolotl grows and develops eyes, a dorsal fin and six feathery gills.

Image: kori monster

After 2 weeks, the egg hatches and a tiny Axolotl escapes into the world. It's baby steps for our little darling, and even that's not easy since he has no legs and looks just like a tadpole. Still, he's only 1 cm (0.4 in) long at this point and he spends a further two weeks attached to aquatic plants.

Over the next couple of months he grows and grows. He starts to develop front legs and only once they're well under way will the back legs begin to sprout. Soon we have a tadpole with four short, spindly legs. But he's not quite done yet...

The Axolotl just keeps on growing. After about a year or two he reaches a maximum length of 30 cm (a foot). The one thing he doesn't do is metamorphose into an adult salamander. Axolotls retain childish, tadpole features like gills and their dorsal fin for the entirety of their lives. And that can add up to some 10 or 20 years. They even reach sexual maturity and reproduce while still looking like a gigantic baby. Which is something you probably shouldn't think about too much.

Video: Rathergood
Not actually a change in species :P

Axolotls can in fact grow up into proper, adult salamanders if they need to, they just require a better reason than the mere accumulation of years. If the lakes of their native Mexico dry up, Axolotls can finally metamorphose so as to be better equipped to wander the land in search of a new aquatic home. By all accounts, it's an extremely stressful process which most Axolotls would much rather they never go through. And once they become an adult, there's no going back to the joys of larva-hood. It's that darn arrow of time again!

The terrible thing is those Mexican lakes have in fact largely dried up. Or rather they've been drained to prevent flooding and make way for the enormous sprawl of Mexico City.

Image: sharkhats

And yet, despite all that, Axolotls are remarkably easy to keep at home! They can also be bred so that no-one has to take them from those fragile wild populations.

All you need is a large tank or aquarium, about twice as long as the Axolotl, from some place like Swell Reptiles. Add some gravel, and make sure it's too large for a hungry Axolotl to swallow (we're dealing with overgrown children, remember), and a plant pot to hide in. Fill the tank with cool, dechlorinated water and a good filter and you're all set. Axolotls will eat all sorts of easily available meaty foods.

Image: MaffersToys

For an extra-special treat you could show them your carefully worked out beauty routine. They'll laugh like only a child can laugh!

Frogs With Sticky-out Bits

Image: Alex Figueroa

Horns! Spikes! Sinister bulges that throb and pulsate when no-one's looking! I just love a good set of sticky-out bits!

Turns out quite a few frogs and toads are partial to a bit of sticking out, too...

Worm Salamander

Image: Sean Michael Rovito

Never-ending salamanders!