The oldest Xenopus Frog in the world ?

Downend School Science department has been home to two African clawed frogs for about thirty years. No one knows the exact date of purchase, but some of the staff who have been there for a few (!) years can remember them from 1970, and the pair arrived as adults.  They spent the majority of time at the Westerleigh Road upper site, but were retired to North View to be looked after by year 7 and 8 in 1999.  Members of my tutor group would go out twice a week to catch worms for them (or was this a ruse to miss assembly?).  Having lived on a totally unbalanced diet for this length of time, the frogs refused all food other than earthworms.

The male stopped eating in April 2000 and died that August. The female then seemed to have a new lease of life and ate twice as much. She stopped eating over a very cold winter so I brought her to my house (her tank is right by me as I write this), and she's eating about one worm a month now (March 2001).

As my tutor group kept asking how she was and clearly missed her, they now have four young African clawed frogs in the lab. Fully equipped with heater and filter, these four are fed mainly on reptomin (no more missed assemblies) but will get worms as a treat.

They have been named Fred, Frid, Frad and Frod  by Kate, Emma and Vikki in tutor group 7M. We all hope they live as long as the others. In the meantime, the elderly lady is enjoying her retirement after more years in the education system than most teachers I know.

Update: 16 April 2001 The oldest frog died peacefully today.

Karin Parker                        Physics resources homepage