Banded Bull Frog (Kaohsiung)

English Name: Banded Bull Frog, Chubby Frog, Asian Painted Frog
Scientific Name: Kaloula pulchra
Chinese Name: 花狹口蛙 (Hua Xiakouwa)
Chinese Meaning: "Flowered Narrow-Mouthed Frog"

Date: July 13, 2009

Location: Park by Jiahong Rd., Nanzih District, Kaohsiung City
Coordinates:  22°43'4.42" N, 120°17'42.53" E

This frog is actually native to Southeast Asia, and was introduced into Taiwan in the last ten years or so, probably through the pet trade - it's popular in pet stores, where it's known in English as the "Chubby Frog". The first picture shows one that I found hopping around on the ground. I think it might be a juvenile, because it seemed a little smaller than the others I saw.

When it's time to mate, the males puff themselves up like balloons and float in pools of water while making loud croaking noises. I found a bunch of them hanging out in the drains in this little park in the suburbs of Kaohsiung (that's what you see in the second photo). Their call is really loud, and sounds somewhere between a cow and Chewbacca from Star Wars. And when they make the sound, their throats bulge out into a big bubble, like this:

There are about 32 species of frogs and toads in Taiwan, and nearly 5,000 worldwide. About a third of the world's frog species are believed to be endangered by habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, and other threats. However, the Banded Bull Frog is not believed to be in danger - in fact, in recent times it has been colonizing more and more countries in Asia, even reaching as far as Australia and New Zealand. Individual frogs of this species are known to live for up to 10 years.

There's a lot of good information about Taiwan's frogs online, but most of it's in Chinese. However, there's a great English-language site called Frogmosa, with a really nice interface, and information about all the different species.

Malayan Night Heron (Taipei)

English Name: Malayan Night Heron
Scientific Name: Gorsachius melanolophus
Chinese Name: 黑冠麻鷺 (Heiguan Malu)
Chinese Meaning: "Black-Crowned Ma Heron"*

Date: September 11, 2009

Location: National Chengchi University, Wenshan District, Taipei City
Coordinates: 24° 58' 47.77" N, 121° 34' 13.86" E

I spotted this bird near one of the dormitory buildings up on a hill at Chengchi University. It's a juvenile of the species; adults are more solid brown on top, with a black patch on top of their heads. The Malayan Night Heron is found in much of South and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia to China. There are three species of night herons found in Taiwan, and seven worldwide. The Black-Crowned Night Heron, one of the species seen locally, is found all over the world. Scientists have also discovered fossils of other species of night herons, and five island species have gone extinct in modern times.

(Same date and location as above)

The Malayan Night Heron is a forest-dwelling species. It likes to hang out in dark, moist forested areas. This one was being stalked by a cat. I first noticed it after it made a bunch of noise escaping from the cat, and landed on this tree branch (you can see the cat in the bottom right of this picture).

*Translation Note: I didn't translate the "ma" (麻) character, because it's part of the name of a certain group of herons for which there is apparently no word in English. "Malu" (麻鷺) refers to this and several closely related species of night herons of the genus Gorsachius, especially the Japanese Night Heron (Gorsachius goisagi). Other genera of night herons are not referred to as "malu", and the name is also used for some more distantly related birds in the heron family. The character "ma" (麻) by itself has a variety of possible meanings, including "tingling", "hemp", "flax", and "bother".