Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis
This frog is a living fossil. It seems it might have split up from other frogs about 150 million years ago and has not changed much since than. There are no close relatives in terms of species for this frog and the nearest one is in the Seychelles islands. It feels like a big bag of jelly when you hold it in your hand and I must say, its a very strong frog.
We managed to find few pairs of the Purple frogs and we filmed/photographed them from many angles. I think we might be the first ones to have filmed this frog.
The Purple frog in the forest undergrowth
However, to make it a good sequence, we needed some action/behavior from the frogs. We have been trying to get the frogs turned on, and get on with what they came out of the ground for. But they just don’t seem to be in the mood. We tried giving them a comfortable and romantic room (read lot of mud and rain), we tried romantic music (read loud male frog calls from the speakers) and we even tried turning the lights out (read night time), but the male and female just don’t seem to be interested. They usually mate and lay their eggs within a week and head back into the ground.
With the monsoon acting all funny, the frogs are quite confused too. They have been coming out for every small shower thinking its the monsoon and have been borrowing themselves back in the ground once the rains stopped. We are still on a standby here, just in case the frogs do come out and decide to mate now.
Filming them has not been easy. We were mostly filming in heavy rain in middle of the jungle. That meant at any point of time, we had hundreds of leeches on each of us and we could not remove them either as we were busy filming all along.
In the meantime, we did manage to get some good footage of snakes, landscapes and the endangered Lion-tailed macaque.
PREM! what an imagination!! I can just see the ad (for frogs, not humans) that says, if you kiss the ugly Prince Charming, this is the beautiful frogs that he will turn into….!
Re: Where do you find these critters?
I completely agree with you about this whole post-processing thing…it’s a debate that will go on and on (and I have it very often with my friends, many of whom are utterly disgusted that I shoot in jpeg.)
Is the woman beautiful as she is created? Does she look better with make-up? If so, how much of makeup?
leeches?
The best anti-leech remedy I ever heard of was… pantyhose. Won’t help you much if their on the upper torso, but should reduce them on the lower. Probably won’t help you much now, but thought I’d give you a tip for the future.
Re: pictures for Wikipedia
Thanks for that, Kalyan. Inspired me to spruce up the article on wikipedia ! Shyamal
Re: Where do you find these critters?
I prefer JPEG too. Who has the space to store dumb pictures in RAW! Don’t know about you but 90% of pictures are dumb/not worth saving/etc. I’d rather have them in smaller JPEG files than delete the whole lot.
Dude Awesome work man !!!
Thank you. Should I send you an e-mail directly? Does the one on your website work?
great camouflage
seems like this frog blends very well with the rotting leaves. from all the pics on the net so far, the purple color seemed too striking. here it seems more like gray and brown mixed, makes sense why nobody found it for so long!!
madhu (jlrntp)
Re: Where do you find these critters?
It’s definitely a debate that will rage on. It is amazing what the digital format offers in terms of manipulation and adjustments and how short of time the technology has come and is still growing.
For example see here:
http://www.photosafariindia.com/articles/ps1-workflow.html
It’s impressive how he was able to light up that tiger headshot.
Kalyan,
Didn’t know that some companies require RAW files for authenticity, not a bad idea I must say. I’ve always wondered how companies go about that. I’ve always worried that having your great collection of photos online puts you at risk for people downloading and parading them as their own. I guess it’s the risk you take so others can also enjoy the work.
Thanks for the updates, I can’t think of anyone better to live vicariously through π
Kiran
Re: Where do you find these critters?
Putting photos on the net really helps. I got almost all my contacts and work via my site and my blog. π
Re: TN’s own Gollum
Smooth slippery skin is a typical attribute associated with living things that live near moisture (muddy waters, slippery rocks). Its also a great tool to escape the predator.
This is awesome work man. congrats! π
wow!
Sound wonderful!
Hi,
There was an article titled “Exotic Species” in Outlook dated 15 Oct ’07 about this frog. They called it Pig-Nosed frog. Hope you already know about it. Maybe its your snaps they used.
-Arun
Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)))))))))))))))))))
May I feature the second picture on my blog, Uglorable.com? I will link back to this post, as well as your website. My blog is rather small and informal, but I really fancy this picture and would love to share it with those who do check my site.
* Soak your nails in water with lemon juice or lemon slices. The lemon acts as an astringent and will strip away stains.
It is a haven for an array of exotic flora fauna and is the last refugee of the lion tailed macaques.
It’s such a cute story so thought i could publish it again out here. ) lonelinessβ¦. There has been a lot of songs written about itβ¦ its a feeling no one can escape.
Here the Anal Fish Noodler burrows its snout into the fleshy walls and feasts unbeknownst to the victim.
Fantastic. I also would love to use one of your pictures with a link to my site. http://www.bamboozoo.weebly.com Any credit for photography and a link to the remaining info.
Pat
nice
I, Justin Antony from CCMB, I appreciate your work. Keep it up. Go ahead.
Great job Kalyan!
I am a biology teacher and find your work really fantastic. Keep up the good work.
Rajesh
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