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- There’s an amusing reason why Sandeep Das, a young researcher at the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), and other herpetologists like him in the state refer to the Purple frog, an odd-looking species endemic to the Western Ghats, as the ‘Maveli’ frog.
- According to mythology, Mahabali, or Maveli, was a benevolent asura king who ruled over the region of Kerala but was banished into the netherworld by Lord Vishnu in order to appease the gods. But Maveli was granted one wish: he could return to Kerala for a single day and meet his subjects.
- This day in Kerala came to be celebrated as ‘Thiruvonam’, the most auspicious day of Onam when people would greet their old king. Quite similar to the lore of King Maveli, researchers have found that the Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), which lives almost its entire life in underground tunnels, comes out to the surface for a single day in a year to breed.
- Once it lays it’s eggs, the bloated frogs characterised by a protruding snout and powerful hind legs return to the earth’s deepest layers.
- If all goes well, this intriguing frog species, listed as endangered on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), could soon be designated as Kerala’s state amphibian a title that researchers hope would go a long way in protecting it’s fragile habitat and knowing more about its rich antecedents.
- A proposal floated by Das for the same is set to come up on the agenda when a committee of the Wildlife Advisory Board meets later this month.
- “It’s a unique species that every amphibian expert is aware of. It’s endemic to this part of the southern Western Ghats and cannot be found anywhere else,” said Palot.
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