EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Common (Asiatic) Toad (Bufo gargarizans),
southern Siberia, Far East Russia

Explanation:   Here's a common toad that can teach us lessons of diplomacy and peaceful coexistence across borders.  This is, in fact, the Common Toad.  It is found in southeastern Russia, China, and North Korea.  Its populations span several subspecies across some historically contentious national borders.  

According to a wonderful and rare book written by the masterful Chinese wildlife biologist Piao Ren Zhu, with whom I once explored northeast China on a wildlife expedition, this toad goes by many names across the borders.  

In English it is called the Common, Asiatic, or Far Eastern Toad; in Latin Bufo gargarizans Cantor (previously, Bufo bufo gargarizans); in Chinese ; in Russian ; in Japanese katakana ; and in Korean .  The Japanese subspecies Bufo gargarizans miyakonis is also named Miyako-Hiki-Gaeru (Miyako Toad).  

Its many names across many borders, like Zhu's multilingual book, may be a lesson in respecting the multiple identities of people and cultures and enjoying both the differences and the commonalities.
  

 
Two Common Toads locked in amplexus
(mating grasp), in Shivki Forest Research Station,
southern Siberia, Russian Far East.

Information:  Zhu, P. R. 1990. List of wildlife in Heilongjiang China. The Institute of Wildlife in Heilongjiang Province China, Harbin, China. 368 pp.