Video
Toad-ally Tuesday
Toad-ally Tuesday
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Descriptive Transcript
[Audio description: The dawn chorus of the Sonoran Desert greets a rocky wash filled with pools of water. A poorly-edited picture of a spadefoot toad leaps into view.]
[The spadefoot looks back and forth coyly, before letting out a nasally call. Suddenly, chaotic dance music starts playing.]
it’s Toadally Tuesday.
[A montage of spadefoots and Sonoran Desert toads is set to the beat. Spadefoots are the smaller of the two species, with yellow-and-brown marbling, big, plaintive eyes, and circular pupils. Sonoran Desert toads are much larger, with pale green coloration and bar-shaped pupils. Both have a comically grumpy look to them. They are joined by photos of other toads, including Arizona toads and red-spotted toads. The montage is stitched together with over-the-top transitions that you might expect from a slideshow presentation.]
Spadefoots aren’t true toads.
[A picture of an irritated-looking spadefoot sitting in a gloved hand bounces in and out.]
Which I just learned, and now you know also (if you didn’t know.)
[More spadefoots flicker on-screen. One is an old risograph print of a spadefoot swimming, but its legs are splayed in such a way that it looks like a model popping a pose on a catwalk.]
(Sorry to batrachologists everywhere.)
[An image of a Sonoran Desert toad appears and distorts.]
So I guess that means…
[The frame changes to an Arizona toad lounging at the water’s edge, which is pulled apart like a dilating lens.]
It’s Toadally Wrong Taxonomy Tuesday.
[The spadefoot from the wash is joined by a Sonoran Desert toad. They’re poorly edited to bounce to the beat. The spadefoot even wears little sunglasses.]
[Eventually, the dance music ceases. The toads sit in silence as the dawn chorus resumes. The Sonoran Desert toad advances menacingly to the spadefoot, which hops back slightly. Then, the large toad bonks the spadefoot out of the frame. The spadefoot lets out a sad, nasally cry as it flies off-screen.]
[The frame lingers on the Sonoran Desert toad. A second portrait of the same toad fades into view, which is edited to increase its contrast. It looks at the viewer ominously.]
It’s Toadally Tuesday.
Description
Moisten up the dance floor and prepare to shake it like there was just a monsoon rain - it's Toad-ally Tuesday! Our rangers are excited to share a recent revelation they've had about the taxonomy of the spadefoot toad.
Duration
1 minute, 9 seconds
Credit
NPS / Zoe Gentry
Date Created
09/30/2024
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