I recently returned from an amazing trip to Malaysia, Borneo.
Although not part of my PhD research, it was a great opportunity to go looking for some amazing frog species. My favourite place was Danum Valley Field Centre, in Sabah. The field centre had great facilities for researchers and was situated amongst 43 800 hectares of primary rainforest. Danum Valley Conservation Area is the largest area of pristine lowland dipterocarp forest remaining in Sabah. Danum Valley has some incredible wildlife, including more than 60 amphibian species. I was lucky enough to find 2 of Borneo’s 3 species of flying frogs – Wallace’s Flying Frog and the Harlequin Tree Frog. These flying frogs have a large amount of webbing between their toes and fingers, which they use to glide between trees. When I held Wallace’s Flying Frog it produced a sticky, white secretion from its skin as a defense. Borneo definitely has some incredible frog species, including the Bornean Rainbow Toad, Ansonia latidisca, which was rediscovered last year, after not being seen since 1924. I’ve included some of the photos I took and have attempted to (hopefully correctly) ID the species. To read more about Borneo’s frogs, The Frogs of Borneo is a great site, which includes information on over 100 frog species from East Malaysia.
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