A peek into the secret lives of Coorg’s many frogs

When people think of frogs, they imagine them as slimy, brown or green and living in ponds, says Dr Vishnupriya Sankararaman. But in reality, especially in the Western Ghats, they are incredibly diverse, occurring in so many shapes, colours and occupying multiple habitats.

“They’re on treetops, rocks, in streams, inside bamboo…in every habitat you can imagine,” says the conservation ecologist, who believes that even though they are small and often ignored, frogs represent the Western Ghats in a way none of the other taxa do. “They live everywhere in the Western Ghats, exploiting (ecological) niches we don’t think of.”