The Goliath frog uses its powerful back legs to escape from attackers. It can jump three metres (10 feet) in a single hop. That's the length of a car.
Where the sea meets the sky
Where the sea meets the sky A project is underway to study the health of
populations of three species of seabird as an indicator of the
health of the marine food web on the West Coast of North
America.
Researchers are trying to determine how the El Nino weather
pattern affects the food web. It is thought that the amount and
type of food that the birds are able to find and bring back to feed
their young is a better indicator of the state of the marine food
web than methods which involve human sampling of the populations of
sea creatures.
The species of birds under study are the rhino auklet, Cassin's
auklet, and common murres. Each of the birds occupies different
positions in the food web due to differences in their main source
of food.
By monitoring changes in the food brought in by the birds,
researchers can detect changes in the availability and distribution
of prey, and so judge the health of the food web as a
whole. 3 OCTOBER 1998, P. 40-44
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