New species of leopard frog found in New York City...it is a Yankees fan.
On a foray into the wilds of Staten Island in 2009, Jeremy A. Feinberg, a doctoral candidate in ecology and evolution at Rutgers University, heard something strange as he listened for the distinctive mating call of the southern leopard frog — usually a repetitive chuckle. But this was a single cluck.
“I started hearing these calls, and I realized they were really distinct,” Mr. Feinberg said.
Three years later, Mr. Feinberg and four other scientists who joined him in multiple field and laboratory studies, are finally comfortable making their declaration: a new species of leopard frog — as yet unnamed — been identified in New York City and a number of surrounding counties.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/nyregion/new-leopard-frog-species-is-discovered-in-nyc.html
Apologies to the silent majority who don't read this blog
Been lost in reading about the history of natural history. A fascinating subject from the perspective of marginal nature which is absent from the tradition of natural history except in the urban natural history tradition. But in urban natural history there is a split from older urban natural histories of the 1950s and before which just recorded what they saw in urban habitats and contemporary urban natural histories of the last forty years which villainized non-native species in urban ecosystems. This is mostly an American response and there is enough cultural baggage to sort out there without looking at Europe. I didn't expect to find such a mess in natural history...
