Alaskan Frog

It stops breathing and its heart stops beating.

Alaskan frog. During cold winters the alaskan wood frog becomes a frog shaped block of ice. Management strategies have not been developed for red legged frogs in alaska although it is illegal to introduce any aquatic organism into alaskan waters. The fascinating camouflage coloring of the wood frog makes them hard to spot but when the rare sighting does happen pay respect to these tiny creatures as they are wildly impressive and so very resilient. Ironically this species is declining throughout its native range and a subspecies the california red legged frog rana aurora draytonii is federally threatened.

The alaskan wood frog is one of the most widely distributed amphibians in north america especially in alaska the colder parts of canada and the contagious united states. One of the most remarkable things about wood frogs is. Their distribution in alaska is confined primarily to the coastal trans boundary river corridors of southeast such as the taku and stikine rivers that originate in canada. Research in alaska will focus on assessing the effects of red legged frogs.

It is the most widely distributed frog in alaska. Larson s adviser brian barnes years ago found that the alaska version of the wood frog is special able to tolerate frigid temperatures under the snow that would kill lower 48 wood frogs. The contiguous wood frog range is from northern georgia and northeastern canada in the east to alaska and southern british columbia in the west. Columbia spotted frog ranges from southwestern wyoming through the rocky mountain states and interior british columbia to southeast alaska.