SIERRA CLUB — ENDANGERED SPECIES — DUSKY GOPHER FROG — PLANET EARTH IN SILHOUETTES group

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Sierra Club* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) * American Bird Conservancy

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Living in the threatened long-leaf pine flats, the dusky gopher frog needs fire, water, and earth to survive. Earthen tunnels, dug by other animals like gopher tortoises, are a damp refuge for these frogs when the weather is dry, while fire keeps the longleaf forest healthy and open, and the rainwater that gathers in seasonal wetlands serves as a perfect place to lay eggs. 

With only a single population of about a hundred adult frogs in Mississippi’s Harrison County, these dumpy, speckly frogs are the rarest species of amphibian in North America. If startled, they cover their eyes with their front feet, and can also inflate their bodies to look bigger. The male frogs’ mating calls are said to sound like a human snoring.

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