As the sweltering summer month of August begins, Haiti’s rainy season makes its return for the second time this year. While we humans might seek shelter from the deluge, this warm summer rain will often bring another of the island’s native populations out of hiding. Haiti is, and has always been, home to a great number of frog species that are not only adorable but also completely unique to the island. Let’s take a look at a few of these uncommon amphibians and what makes them so special.
Let’s start with a couple of surprising sounding specimens that were missing for over two decades in Haiti before being rediscovered nine years ago. Mozart’s Frog, or eleutherodactylus amadeus, is so named for its vocalization which sounds astoundingly similar to musical notes. This small brown frog comes in a variety of patterns from speckled to striped and it is endemic to southwestern Haiti in Massif de la Hotte.
Our second recently rediscovered amphibian with a unique sound is also endemic to Massif de la Hotte. Eleutherodactylus dolomedes, more commonly known as the Hispaniolan Ventriloquial Frog, actually doesn’t sound like a frog at all. This clever frog projects it’s voice, chirping rapidly like a small bird. It appears in various shades of dark amber, occasionally adorned with grey markings and like Mozart’s frog, lives high in boughs of the cloud forests of Pic Macaya National Park.
Nestled on stalks of climbing bamboo in those same cloud forests, rests my personal favorite rediscovered frog: The eleutherodactylus thorectes, or Macaya breast-spot frog. This (quite literally) tiny creature is one of the smallest frogs in the world. At only 12-15mm long, this orange amphibian is no bigger than a grape. It is also, sadly, the most critically endangered frog on this list.
These three unique frogs, and many more, were actually rediscovered by accident. A team of conservationists headed to Massif de la Hotte after the 2010 earthquake in search of an entirely different frog that had gone missing- the La Selle grass frog. They unfortunately never found that frog, but very, fortunately, found an abundant population of six species of frogs they thought had been missing since 1991.
You may by now be asking yourself – “Why all the fuss about a few frogs?”
Well, dear reader, amphibians (like bees, butterflies and certain types of birds) are what some scientists refer to as a “sentinel species”. Sentinel species (also called “barometer species”) are species that are especially sensitive to changes in their environment and thus act as a reliable gauge for the health of that environment, and -by extension- the health of the humans that depend on the resources from that environment. For example, canary birds are one such species that miners used to take into coal mines to warn them of dangerous carbon monoxide before it was too late. Simply put, when the frogs start disappearing, we know we’re in danger of disappearing ourselves.
There’s still much work to be done to conserve the natural habitats of these amphibians to ensure their long-term survival, as well as our own. However, discovering the natural resilience of these creatures when finding them again after such a devastating natural event was more than just a herpetological success- it was like discovering hope. Haiti was still a safe home for its sentinels and so it would be a safe home for its people. The island nation would survive and go on to rebuild, full of that same resilience. So this rainy season, when you hear a croak (or a chirp), remember to be thankful for the healthy presence of our amphibian allies.
Marleen is a Haitian Creole translator and Language Advocate. After completing her Graduate Studies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (SciencesPo), she decided to launch Creole Solutions to focus on her mission to promote Haitian language and culture. She worked for the Consulate General of Haiti in Chicago and the United Nations Environment Program in Haiti.
Marleen se yon tradiktris k ap travay pou defann dwa lang. Apre li te fini ak etid siperyè li nan Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (SciencesPo), Marleen te deside lanse Creole Solutions pou konsantre sou misyon li pou voye lang ak kilti lakay monte. Avan sa li te travay pou Konsila Jeneral Ayiti nan Chikago ak Pwogram Nasyonzini pou Anviwònman an Ayiti.
