Question: Do you think that frogs are a good thing to use as part of your experiment and get a reliable result?

Diana Samuel answered on 16 Jun 2011:

Good question. I’ve already got some good data from them, but what I’ve learnt so far is that the age and agility of the frog can determine HOW MUCH data I can get. The older White’s tree frogs we have are heading towards retirement; they’ve been around for several years now, and have put on quite a bit of weight (one of the common name’s for this species is ‘dumpy tree frog’ because they’re prone to obesity in captivity!), making them less co-operative when it comes to experiments that require them to move! The 3 Cuban tree frog’s are exceptional jumpers, but are not fond of climbing; aside from that, they’re quite temperamental and don’t really like being handled. This is why we recently bought 5 juvenile White’s tree frogs; they’re very active and limber, so I should be able to get lots of reliable results from them.