Amphibians occupy a complex place in cultures around the world. Throughout history, these vibrant, shape-shifting creatures of land and water have been met with both wonder and hostility.
In the final part of this series Amphibians and Culture, Senior Programme Officer Pria Ghosh discusses how strong feelings about amphibians—both positive and negative—shape amphibian conservation in South Africa and India. In these two countries, both scarred by European colonialism, our partners work to dispel myths, but also to protect and revive more positive cultural narratives about amphibians.
An increasingly divided view of amphibians is developing throughout the world. As we discussed in our previous blog, while many Indigenous Peoples of South and Central America revere amphibians, urban populations increasingly view them with fear and suspicion.
South Africa: how Indigenous cultures and colonialism shape feelings about frogs
A similar dynamic is also playing out in other regions, including South Africa. Here, Dr Fortunate Phaka, an ‘ethnoherpetologist’—someone who studies the relationship between amphibian biology and culture—records (and works to revive) Indigenous names and stories about native amphibians and reptiles. Through his research, he hopes to show that traditional cultural practices can benefit species conservation.
Fortunate has observed an almost universal perception in South Africa that frogs are poisonous – and also that touching one will give you warts. As a result, frogs are persecuted and often killed on sight.
Eggs laid by a kloof frog, an Endangered South African species that is the only member of its genus, making it an especially unique aspect of earth’s biodiversity. Image: © Endangered Wildlife Trust.
However, in some Indigenous cultures, frogs are protected and killing them is taboo. They may associate frogs with visits from ancestors, or see them as valuable rainmakers and so have strong positive associations. The Vhenda consider them integral parts of sacred waterbodies, and cave paintings by the Khoi-San suggest that Xenopus species were once considered a symbol of fertility.
Several studies have investigated why most South Africans have such negative associations with amphibians when there are rich, ancient, and positive cultural associations to draw on. One very likely possibility is that Europeans imported their belief that frogs were a symbol of poison and witchcraft with them during colonisation.
Synchronicity Earth’s partner Endangered Wildlife Trust seeks to address these attitudes and introduce people of all ages to the wonderful world of amphibians through their annual ‘“Leap Day for Frogs’”, which aims to highlight the plight of amphibians and generate appreciation of them.
The moonlight mountain toadlet is one of the many beautiful amphibian species EWT is working to protect. Image © Keir Lynch.
Last year, to gather more of these fascinating cultural associations with frogs, they coordinated a social media campaign #FrogLore, which reached over 34,000 people, and triggered wonderful story-sharing – including one of frogs shooting lightning from their mouths! Although this story might sound outlandish, it’s likely inspired by the lightning speed of frogs’ long tongues.
Talisman and delicacy: the important cultural role of frogs in India
Across the ocean, in India, we haven’t heard stories of amphibians with storms in their mouths, but the group are almost universally associated with dangerous, stormy weather.
In ancient times, frogs were likely associated with beauty, aspiration, and wisdom. They feature widely in Sanskrit texts and the Vedas. For example, one Vedic text known as the Mandukya Upanishad, or ‘“Frog Doctrine’”, tells the reader to leap like a frog into a higher state of awareness. In the ancient Sanskrit epic the Rāmāyana