Asian elephant footprints serve as safe spaces for frog nurseries
While wandering through northwestern Myanmar in 2016, a group of scientists stumbled on hundreds of huge tracks in the ground. According to a new paper in the journal Mammalia, these footprints, made by Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), have a lasting impact. Even when the giants that made them are long gone, the tracks serve as a magical birthplace for the frogs of the Saigang region.
During the rains, Asian elephants graze on the seasonally flooded wetlands in Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary. Months later, the ecosystem changes back to dry grasslands, but some of the footprints remain, trapping rainwater and turning into stable puddles. Here, researchers discovered tiny, squiggly creatures, swimming near bundles of small translucent orbs containing little dark dots floating on the surface: frog egg masses and tadpoles.
Nanticha Ocharoenchai
