• Naturally Ours, Documentary Series
  • Adventures in Podcasting
    • Culture Travels Podcast
    • Social Cooking Club
  • Pitch Us
  • Sponsors & Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Editorial Submission Guidelines

Roamancing Travel Magazine

... travelling in search of those most elusive of creatures ~ love and romance

  • Travel Tube
You are here: Home / All Aboard! / Frogs at the RBG (Royal Botanical Gardens) in Burlington, Ontario: An All Ages Adventure

Frogs at the RBG (Royal Botanical Gardens) in Burlington, Ontario: An All Ages Adventure

March 20, 2015 By Erica Hargreave 1 Comment

As a teenager, it was a science fair project on frogs that landed me my first job in a research lab at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington, Ontario – which was an awfully cool summer job and pivotable moment in my life.  So when I heard there was a frog exhibit on at the RBG this winter (until April 12th, 2015), I had to go!

A True Toad at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario

Loved the scrappy look on this toad’s face!

On my first visit, I took my nieces and nephew, which was fun to see their reactions …

African Bullfrog at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario.

Still trying to decide if the African Bullfrog was bigger than his head.

… enjoy the various frog inspired games and crafts …

Tic Tac Toad Game

The frog games made a splash!

… and take in the puppet shows!

But I am still a huge science geek and I wanted the time to read the interpretive signage, which is simply not something you get on a Saturday morning with 3 toddlers in tow. So I went back during the day on a weekday with my Mom, and got to leisurely stroll through the exhibit, reading the signs, learning new things about amphibians …

Identifying frogs and toads.

Can you identify the true frogs and toads from the pictures here?

… taking pictures …

Dart Poison Frog  at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario

This purple Dart Poison Frog was my youngest nieces favourite, in part as they look like little toys, but most of all as she loves purple.

… and standing in front of the exhibit windows watching the frogs for as long as I liked without feeling guilty over the long line of people awaiting their turn.

Borneo Eared Frog at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario

Loved being able to see the underside of the Borneo Eared Frog, with it’s awesomely suctioned toes!

Frogs are such cool creatures!  Did you know that frogs are essentially ‘hopping drugstores’, their skin covered in a cocktail of protective toxins?!? Some of these chemicals are almost identical to those that regulate our muscles and nerves.

Or that some frogs are able to produce their own antifreeze to survive winter by producing excess sugars and starches to prevent damage to sensitive tissues, while the remaining water in their body turns to ice?!? (This was of particular interest to me, as that science project on frogs, had had to do with hibernation.)

And to top it all, we even got an x-rated show!

Fire-Bellied Toads Fornicating

Fire-Bellied Toads exploring the birds and the bees!

With so many things that we can learn from frogs and other amphibians, it is concerning that over the past 50 years there have been such large declines in frog and other amphibian populations, due to habitat destruction, introduced species (including the bullfrog itself, into habitats that it doesn’t belong), chemical pollution, climate change, over-collecting, and epidemic disease.  Exhibits such as Frogs: A Chorus of Colour at places like the Royal Botanical Gardens are important to teach people why they should care and be cognoscente of protecting the habitats of these creatures.

Ornate Horned Frog at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario

Just gaze into the eyes of the Ornate Horned Frog! This is not a face that we’d want to lose.

Filed Under: All Aboard!, Around the World, Canada, Erica Hargreave, Kid Travel, Nerding Out, Ontario, Our Travelers, Science, Specialty, Travel TV Tagged With: amphibians, Burlington, Ontario, Royal Botanical Gardens

Comments

  1. Jimmy says

    August 17, 2018 at 12:45 am

    Wow. It’s nice to see it. These frogs are beautiful. Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Roamancing Travel

Travelling the globe uncovering the love & beauty all around us!

We're not your average jet-set crew; we're just as happy to hunker around a campfire as we are to be finely wined & dined, as we roamance travel.

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Snapchat
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Travel Tales

Making Mochi and Exploring Japanese Canadian Culture on the Culture Travels Podcast

April 27, 2022 By Erica Hargreave

Canadian Vegetarian Foodie Travel Advisory : Peameal Bacon is NOT a Pea Protein Bacon Substitute

April 15, 2022 By Emme Rogers

I Hate Loud Music: Carnival in Trinidad

March 14, 2022 By Jacqueline Swartz

For More Roamancing, Join Our eMagazine

Flight Networks Top 100 Canadian Travel Blogs

Produced By …

This is another tale brought to you by the creatively whacky minds at Ahimsa Media.
For more tales in the ridiculous, read on at Being Emme.

BCIT Media Storytelling Courses

Our Post-Secondary Accredited Courses with BCIT's Media Storytelling Department:

Building Your Digital Media Presence (online)
Social Media Storytelling (online)

Copyright © 2011–2022 · From the Creative Minds at Ahimsa Media · Theme by Studio Press · Login