8: American Bullfrog

Hi friends,

I write to you from Arapahoe, Ute, and Cheyenne land. I am interested in learning about the different animals that live in the place where I was born. I want to mention that biological classification as taught by western science has its roots in racism, sexism, and transphobia – here’s a good explainer about why.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has this to say about today’s animal, the American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus): “Adult American bullfrogs have voracious appetites and will eat anything they can fit into their mouths, including invertebrates, birds, bats, rodents, frogs, newts, lizards, snakes, and turtles.” Sounds relatable, but it is actually a serious problem. The original range of the American bullfrog was the eastern and central United States, and they are an invasive species in the western US, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico – including Colorado. They munch up native amphibians, including the tadpoles of other frog species. They also carry the chytrid fungus, which is shockingly responsible for the extinction of 100 amphibian species since 1970!

Luckily Colorado has some people on the case, like Mac Kobza, who works for Boulder County as a wildlife biologist. Part of his job is stunning the animals with low voltage electricity and then humanely euthanizing them using a drug that humans use to numb their mouths at the dentist. The frogs are then donated to St. Vrain school district for dissection in biology classes. I find it fascinating that the USGS reports the first sighting of this species in Colorado in 1966, and yet, less than 60 years later, we have a person whose job involves controlling them. Invasive species also give me a hard time in imagining the past – the distinctive noise or sight of an animal that I take for granted today would have been totally alien to someone just 100 years ago.

Tomorrow I will share some of my absolute favorite wildlife videos as we soar with some feathered friends.