confusing color (Common Tree Frog)

Previously I talked about unusual behavior of herpeto-fauna regarding hibernation. This new incident is also related to that.

A few days back, in the morning, I was working in a abandoned garden. Suddenly a “white thing with black spots on it” caught my attention. It was inside a well. So I leaned into it.It was a frog. The size and shape was also telling me that it was a Common Tree Frog. But I was confused about the coloration. I have seen Common Tree frogs earlier. They were light brown in color and had black stripes on the legs but no spots on the back. This one however has prominent big black spots on the back and its coloration is white, not brown. So when I returned home I consulted the books by J. C. Daniel and Ranjit Daniel and found some really interesting points about Common Tree Frogs. And these points some what confirmed that it is a Common Tree Frog.
In Hindi, Common Tree Frog is called ‘Chunam’ Frog. Chunam means lime. This frog bears white coloration, the coloration of lime, and that is how it has got its name. So now I became more interested and wanted to study it further. But where am I gonna find it?? If it’s not hibernating, it will surely come out at night to hunt. Another fact I learned came in handy. Previous studies showed that this frog comes out every night to hunt but it returns to the exact place at dawn. That solved my problem. Now I know where to find it. The next morning I visited that place again and yes, I found the frog at exactly the same place. It was resting 6’-8’ down into the well.
So I climbed down the wall of the well to get it. My brother was with me to help me do things. Catching it was not a problem. My personal experience showed me that Common Tree Frogs don’t always jump at the first instance. If you put your hand in-front of it and push a little from behind, it will even crawl up on your hand and stay there. I caught it and brought it home.

At home, I setup a little environment in my new terrarium and the frog found a comfortable corner inside an earthen pot readily. It passed the whole day inside the pot. At night it came out and after some time, crawled up the glass wall of my terrarium and stayed there whole night. It was quite surprising how it sticked to the smooth glass wall. In the morning I took it out and released it. I found an explanation for the color but the spots are yet to be confirmed. Though I read in the books that Common Tree Frogs sports black stripes and spots on the back but the photographs and live ones I have seen didn’t have the spots.


Natural history
Common Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus) is one of the most common tree frogs of India. It is a medium sized frog. Adults’ measure upto 3.8-8.5 cm. Females are larger than the males. It is found through-out the Indian sub-continent except the arid and semi-arid regions. It has a interesting semi urban characteristic. It is fond of human homes and thus in cities with extensive gardens, it is very abundant. Common Tree Frogs enter human homes and take shelter behind books, vases, inside cupboards, cloths etc. and once they settle down, it is very difficult to get rid of them. They tend to come back to the exact place even they are thrown out of the window. They do this to stay away from the dryness of outside air. But every evening they go out to replenish their water stock and to hunt. Frogs can absorb water through skin. But this particular species has developed this to a greater level. They can absorb significant amount of water and store it partly under abdomen and partly under the skin of hind legs.
Common Tree Frogs can also change their body color to a certain extent to match the color of their surroundings. In day time when they are in rest, they sport white color. In night when they are active, they sport light-dark brown color. Their breeding starts in May on the onset of monsoon season. Their mating call is like “DODODODO--DODO”. They lay their eggs in foam nests on over-hanging leaf on a water pool. Tadpoles that emerge from the eggs are washed to the pool by rain or the nest melts. The transformation takes about 55 days to develop a baby frog from egg.

## there is a popular belief in South India. They say, if a Common Tree Frog leaps over a childs leg, his legs become thin and weak. Needless to say that its only a belief, there is no scientific base regarding it.