Rana draytonii

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

This year's festivities are brought to you by a frisky pair of California Red-Legged Frogs, engaged in amplexus. This phenomenon (translated from the Latin as "embrace") is characteristic of many amphibians, and acts as a precursor to mating, in which the smaller male's grasping of the female stimulates her to release her eggs, which he then fertilizes externally.

The serious drought conditions this winter have led to a noticeable lack of amphibian reproduction of late--yet it would seem the recent rains are starting to reverse that troubling trend. The deafening chorus of courting frogs over the last few days (coupled with this sexy discovery the Arcata Marsh today) have done a lot to lift my ailing spirits, which, through the process of my education, have too often been dashed by relentless exposure to the multitude of environmental concerns we currently face. Go, little frogs, go!