Are you STILL trying to find the perfect holiday gift for the person who has everything, or who wants nothing? How about an album featuring the love songs of Endangered Australian frogs?
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Green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea). This is a handsome Endangered day-active frog that … [+]
Last year, I shared an album of the love songs that Endangered Australian birds sing (more here), hoping you would be inspired to purchase this as a unique holiday gift for your loved ones, and so you could also help fund conservation efforts for these birds. That album was the first of its kind to ever reach the ARIA charts, which are the music sales charts issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. Since 1988, these charts record the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia.
“Last year, the birds debuted at number five, and we have actually surpassed the sales figures from that debut”, said Anthony Albrecht, who is a doctoral candidate at Charles Darwin University and the album’s producer.
The birdsong album peaked at number 2.
A new collection of wildlife sounds are being offered for sale to the public; this time, a collection of love songs and calls produced by Australia’s Endangered frogs. This album, entitled Songs of Disappearance: Frogs, features recordings of the songs and calls of 43 of Australia’s most threatened frog species, some of which date back to the 1970s.
This new album, which debuted at number 3 on ARIA, features a wide variety of frog sounds, including calls that sound like “tinkly bells”, “someone puckering up for a giant kiss” and the “deep, mournful croaks” of a long-extinct species, according to Mr Albrecht.
As a bonus, the title track celebrates the incredible diversity of these frogs’ songs and calls, collected by scientists, wildlife recordists, and citizen scientists, and it serves to highlight the incredible biodiversity of frogs that are teetering on the brink of extinction.
If you live in or visit Australia and, if you’re lucky, you can hear some of these frogs singing in different parts of the country for yourself, from mountain streams in far northern Queensland, to caves in the Kimberley and the last remaining wetlands of Australia’s urban centers.
Most of the high-quality recordings on this album were submitted to the Australian Museum FrogID Project, a citizen science frog census that is providing valuable data for the protection and conservation of frogs around Australia. Critically Endangered frog songs were contributed by some of Australia’s leading scientists, and include several species that, tragically, have already been lost forever to extinction. Master nature recordist, Andrew Skeoch, President of the Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group who has been creating the Listening Earth album series (here — also worth a listen) for almost 20 years, contributed some incredible soundscapes from parts of Australia that few of us will ever visit — recordings that are suitable for studying, relaxation or meditation — or for holiday listening!
Although all these songs and calls are a free resource, this album is unique because it gathers sounds together that have never before been heard in a single collection by the public. By purchasing this album, you are providing much-needed funds to support conservation of these frogs.
“Frogs are amongst the most threatened groups of animals on the planet and declining more rapidly than any other animal group”, said Nadiah Roslan, FrogID project coordinator.
“One in six species of frog in Australia is threatened and we have already lost at least four species to extinction, largely the result of habitat loss, disease, introduced species and pollution.”
Australia has already lost four frog species: the southern day frog, sharp-snouted day frog, and both southern and northern gastric brooding frogs, according to Jodi Rowley, FrogID lead scientist and curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Australian Museum and University of New South Wales, Sydney. But, Dr Rowley added, about 40 more species are threatened — some of which have not been seen or heard for years and are probably extinct.
“This decline is concerning because we need frogs to be around — they play such an important role in healthy ecosystems and this role can’t be filled by any other animal group”, Ms Roslan pointed out.
Although the FrogID project has collected more than half a million recordings of frog calls from citizen scientists in just the past five years, frogs and their behavior remain enigmatic.
“We still don’t know that much about our frogs and there are still lots of data gaps to be filled”, Ms Roslan said.
You can buy this unusual album either as a CD ($25, including a 16-page booklet) or as a digital download ($9.99, including a PDF digital booklet), and your purchase supports the Australian Museum FrogID Project.
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