Why I Started Taking Cues From Green Tree Frogs In My Daily Life

Particularly, the lady frogs: they’ve evolved to filter out unwanted noise.

This adorable photo of a female green tree frog, hyla cinerea, was taken by Olaf Leillinger on Wikimedia Commons. I love and chose this picture because of that look on her face that just says “I’ve had enough of this shit.”

Amphibians are endlessly fascinating. As the Internet’s “crazy toad lady”, I may be a bit biased in that statement. But even if you’re not as familiar with, let alone passionate about, herpetology as I am, there’s a chance that you have much learn from our amphibious friends.

For instance, most people don’t know that even wild toads always return home.

Frog scientists and herpetology hobbyists are always making new discoveries about frogs and toads, particularly when it comes to their behaviors in the wild and captivity alike. Migration patterns, population surveys, and changes in size and behavior are often indicators of evolutionary shifts and of course, climate change. This is why amphibians are referred to as “indicator species” because what happens with frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, and caecilians will eventually happen to humans.

And I think the female green tree frogs are really onto something here.

Backed by the National Science Foundation, frog scientists at the University of Minnesota discovered that female dryophytes…