Short-legged toad (Xenophrys brachykolos) [IUCN Endangered]

 The short-legged toad is broadly distributed on Hong Kong and Lantau Islands, as well as in the New Territories, and is probably endemic to Hong Kong.  Adults inhabit hill and mountain streams and surrounding intact forest, probably feeding on earthworms, termites, and other small invertebrates.  A secretive and strictly nocturnal species, its breeding habits are not well known.  Males can be heard calling alongside streams from late January to August.  The tadpole of this species can be found in streams year-round, and is easily identified by its chocolate-brown color, long slender body, and unique funnel-shaped mouth.  Tadpoles appear to be neustic, feeding at the water surface, and the shape of the mouth may also aid in respiration.  The larvae are found in small pools of streams and quickly wriggle beneath floating leaf litter and among small stones when alarmed.  A mass of leaf litter at the edge of a pool may have many funnel-shaped mouths emerging from it.

Frogs on Lamma Island

Toad tapole habitat

Asian Common Toad (Bufo melanostictus)


Asiatic painted frog (Kaloula pulchra)


Tapoles Beware!

All photos taken by Nancy Karraker

When I first heard about a job opportunity at the University of Hong Kong, I wondered how I could possibly study amphibians and reptiles (my area of research) in a huge city. Believing, along with my friends and many other ill-informed Americans, that Hong Kong was only a city, I couldn’t imagine finding much more than an urban toad or two.

I soon learned that about 40% of Hong Kong SAR was protected in country parks, that Hong Kong had 24 species of amphibians, and that a small island called Lamma permitted no cars, buses, or high rises. Given all of this, I thought Hong Kong might be just fine.

I moved from New York in mid-February after finishing my Ph.D. in conservation biology and having spent the past 15 years studying amphibians and reptiles in California, New York, Ecuador, and Panama. Throughout Hong Kong, including on Lamma Island, I will be researching the basic ecology of and threats to some of the amphibians, including the endemic Romer’s tree frog and the Hong Kong newt. If you see someone with a headlamp in a drainage ditch at night, it will probably be me.

What better place for an amphibian lover to live than on Lamma Island? I still marvel at my good fortune to have landed here. On my fourth night, I was standing behind my flat in Yung Shue Long New Village and I heard a great cacophony of frog croaks up the hill. I ran down to the path, up a set of stairs, and at the top sat my first Asian common toad. He (like birds, only the males ‘sing’ in most frogs) was puffed up, seemingly challenging a smaller toad on the step below. I grabbed the upper toad and looked for the black spectacle around its eye so be sure who he was. Shortly, I learned that I needn’t burn calories running up stairs like that because in a few days with a bit of a rain, I began seeing toads everywhere.

A week later we had our first balmy night with a light rain, so I set out with my headlamp hoping to see some new frogs. The path up Yung Shue Long Valley to the Old Village appears to be an amphibian hotspot. There I saw an ornate pygmy frog - a tiny gray or brown frog an inch or less in size with a triangular snout. You only get one second to look or grab before the miniature creature with great leaping skills is gone.

Further down the path clinging to a thin stem of grass was a brown tree frog. This frog had large eyes, a faint X on its back, and toe discs for climbing. These frogs make a low, deep, rattling sound, at times reminiscent of an old heavy door hinge. I hopped down into the drainage channel and tossed out a number of toads that were stranded there. The snake that was hunting toads in the channel was not pleased with me, I suspect. On the way back, I saw a confused paddy frog, with a grayish body and bright green dorsal stripe, trying to mate with a toad in the lily pond.

Now that we have had a bit of rain, I see all of these species often, as well as the bellowing Asiatic painted frog which began calling this past week. There are a number of good habitats remaining here for frogs, including the cultivated area in Yung Shue Long and the swampy area near Pak Kok, the intact forests on the paths to the wind turbine and Tung O beach, the few perennial streams, and of course all the human-created water bodies that some species don’t mind using.

All is not perfect for the frogs on Lamma Island, however. I suspect that scores of frogs die in the concrete drainage ditches every year, either by not being able to get out or becoming easy prey for the snakes that hunt there. As another concrete ditch is currently being built, I wonder if it will be the last.

I suspect that much of the water in low-lying areas is polluted with herbicides, fertilizers, and household chemicals. After a burst of breeding activity by toads in the lily pond, there seemed to be zillions of tadpoles. Very quickly the numbers of tadpoles began to dwindle, and I wondered if snakes were feeding on them. When there were very few left, I scooped some up to take a look and many were deformed and listless, resembling others I have seen exposed to chemical contaminants. For those of us who appreciate the songs of frogs at night, we could try to use fewer chemicals in our homes and workplaces and certainly other species, such as birds and fish, would benefit as well.

In general, though, Lamma is a fairly safe haven for amphibians. I feel fortunate to live in a place where native wildlife is still quite common. Sometimes I overhear people on the ferry mention the racket of some bird that wakes them up every morning or the horrible sound of the frogs that keeps them from falling asleep at night.

For me, I think I would rather hear the birds and frogs than buses and car horns. I guess we make that choice when we live “out in the sticks,” as we say in America. We risk a nip from a centipede in the night or sometimes having to ford the Yung Shue Long stream to get to the ferry, but I will take these ‘hazards’ over living in the city any day.