Published on: Monday, December 15, 2003 |
ON frog studies in Sabah, Prof Matsui said there is no evidence of the population of the amphibians declining in Borneo in undisturbed forest.
But I believe the clearing of forest and logging activities in Sabah affect the frog population as its habitat is being destroyed and left dried leaving it unable to breed since tadpoles depends largely on moistures to survive, he said.
On the phobia experienced by some people, he said frogs are harmless and peaceful creatures.
He offered a tip that frogs that move about and leap quickly are normally non-poisonous while those which move rather slowly and have glands below the skin such as toads are often poisonous.
Nonetheless, he advised the people to wash their hands after touching frog skin.
Poison extracted from toad glands had also been used for medical purposes, said Prof Matsui.
Meanwhile, the Frog Museum Launching organising secretary and lecturer, Kueh Boon Hee, said the priority of studies by ITBC is how to promote herpetology and preserve the frog population in Sabah.
Apart from being the main exotic food recipe, Kueh said they were also working towards the introduction of Anurans as a new Nature Tourism product to be known as Anurans Tourism in Sabah.
One of herpetology concerned in Sabah, Kueh said was the introduction of foreign frog species into the local environment as it can destabilise the domestic frog population.
Similar to when the Bongkok Taiwan (Taiwanese Frogs) for food were introduced in the 1970s, the recent introduction of the American Bull Frog (as pet) could also produce similar result since the domestic frogs are much smaller in size compared to this foreign frog, he said.
