One Saturday, we wake up to worms galore, all kinds of mealworms, super mealworms, earthworms, waxworms and crickets.
The community neighborhood watch has been getting complaints of these worms popping up everywhere and this specific day, we realize we are not the only ones, the entire neighborhood in Limpopo is up and about. Some are blaming the lack of service delivery that is causing the outbreak of worms, others, say it’s witchcraft. Someone who is an ecologist at the Department of Agriculture, in the group, says she has received reports of missing Pyxicephalus adspersus (Giant African Bullfrog) in the area.
She says rodents and small birds have literally multiplied as a result.
A neighbour’s 13-year old son Kholofelo, who always catches and dissects insects for fun, and sometimes frogs, just out of curiosity, reports that his biology teacher, said bullfrogs have moved from the part of Limpopo where we stay.
Then there is bickering about whether the development project of our recently built big mall should have been declined or accepted.
The ecologist in the group, says it is too early to say bullfrogs are missing because the period of time that adult bullfrogs spend above ground during the breeding season, is relatively short compared to the 10 months that they spend underground. It is thus difficult to observe the species for most of the year.
13- year old Kholofelo, says we better find out what’s happened to the Bullfrogs because the ecosystem is now unhealthy and clearly dysfunctional.
The ecologist agrees and says it will soon spread across Limpopo and the rest of the country that bullfrogs are missing. Then she says they are considered “near threatened” according to the red data list.
We learn what that is, some international listing of plants and animals, “near threatened” is close to being threatened with extinction in the near future.
We also learn the frogs we see with broad heads, are actually male African bullfrogs.
African Bullfrogs are one of the largest amphibian species, with males weighing up to 10 times more than females.
We have since learnt African Bullfrog breeding habitat is lost as a result of agricultural development, urbanization and road infrastructure.
A friend standing across from the DRC says bullfrogs are a delicacy in that country, that she is certain of seeing the same frogs in KZN and Swaziland, while on a trip to her in laws.