Romeo Finds His Juliet
Photo credit: BBC
A lonely male frog once thought to be the last of his kind finally has a partner after a decade of solitude.
Romeo is a Sehuencas water frog. Ten years ago, conservationists realized that the species was in trouble so they collected him from the wild to place him into a breeding program. However, they couldn’t find a female suitable for him. Romeo was left in isolation in a Bolivian aquarium.
Now he is no longer alone. A recent expedition into the wilderness of Bolivia turned up five new Sehuencas water frogs—three males and two females. One of them, named Juliet, will be placed with Romeo in the hopes that they will breed together. At the moment, all the new amphibians are still in quarantine.
Herpetologists are hoping that opposites will attract when the two finally meet. Their personalities seem to be antithetical to each other. While Romeo is calm, slow, and doesn’t move around a lot, Juliet is very active, swims constantly, and eats everything in sight.
Well, I'm glad that they finally found a potential mate for Romeo. I do have to wonder what would happen if Romeo didn't want a mate, but chose to be a hermit. Did they ever even consider that possibility?
Coffee in the kitchen again this morning!
