Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans was recently treated to what he described as one of the “cutest” frogs around and a “bit bizarre” too.
Evans was referring to the spotted shovel-nosed frog, also known as the spotted snout-burrower (Hemisus guttatus), which he recently found on a frog survey in the beautiful Zimbali Estate, on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.
Evans said the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the rarely-seen frog species as vulnerable.
According to the Frogs of Southern Africa app, the spotted shovel-nosed frog is vulnerable, due to the small area it occupies, and habitat fragmentation and degradation.
“It is an incredibly tough frog to find, as they spend the majority of their time underground, shovelling through soft soils with that solid, pointed snout, and remarkably powerful back legs,” Evans said.
“They are generally only active in rainy conditions during spring and early summer. They’re occasionally encountered by chance in gardens, or crossing roads in the rain,” Evans said.
Evans said they were surveying a wetland on a rainy night, hoping to hear a spotted shovel-nosed frog, and they did.
Evans said their group of four closed in on the ground-dwelling frog. Each time it called, which was not nearly as frequent as other frogs.
“Eventually, it called when we were pretty much right on top of it. The four of us frantically dug around, as this species will call from a burrow, and eventually, a member of our group uncovered it! What a treat!” Evans exclaimed
“This was an adult male, calling to try and attract a female. Females get a bit larger than the male.”
Evans said they were not digging up the frog and stressing for fun.
“Some temporary work was being done extremely close to where it was found, so we just wanted to move it ever so slightly further away,” Evans said.
“A special, memorable find,” Evans added.
Meanwhile, during the April 2022 floods in KZN, a southern African python, shovel-nosed frogs, a vine snake and a monitor lizard were spotted and photographed along the KZN coast.
At the time, Evans said some interesting creatures had been appearing on the beaches after the floods.
“A young southern African python was sadly found dead on Umdloti Beach, and spotted shovel-nosed frogs, a rarely seen species, were also encountered on the same beach. Very sad.”
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