babur and the skittering frog

Its unique habit of skittering on the water surface was first recorded by the Mughal Emperor Babur (1483-1530) in his autobiography. This is the skittering frog, also known as the Indian skipper frog, a common frog widely distributed throughout South Asia.

indian skittering frog, euphlyctis cyanophlyctis

I was surprised and happy to find that such details were recorded by the first Mughal Emperor of India. I was more surprised to know that Babur had indeed written an autobiography! Babur came from Persia, and his views on the newly conquered Hindustan are written in his biography. Links to the translated pdf version is given below with the references.

Babur writes, along with the events of the year 932: “The frogs of Hindustān are worthy of notice. Though of the same species as our own, yet they will run twelve or fourteen feet on the face of the water”.

indian skittering frog, euphlyctis cyanophlyctis

The skipper in these pictures was a permanent resident of our fish pond. Fortunately it feeds mostly on aquatic and non-aquatic insects and we didn’t see any of our fishes disappear 🙂 The frog usually floats near the vegetation. If disturbed, it skips on the water surface, to some distance. Further provoked, it plunges into the depths.

Date: Nov-Dec, 2007
Location: @ home, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Camera: Nikon D80 | Olympus C770UZ and macro lenses

References:
1. Khan and Tasnim, 1987. A field guide to the identification of herps of Pakistan. Part I: Amphibia, Monograph No. 14. Biological Society of Pakistan, Lahore, pp.1-27 [
pdf: cross-reference].
2. Memoirs of Zehīr-ed-Dīn Muhammed Bābur, Emperor of Hindustan, written by himself in the Chaghatāi Tūrki language and translated by John Leyden, Esq., M.D. and William Erskine, Esq. Annotated and Revised by Sir Lucas King, C.S.I., LL.D., F.S.A. [
Vol I] [Vol II]
3. Dr. S.D.Biju, University of Delhi

37 Responses

  1. Dinesh says:

    Hi Roxy,
    Very interesting observation, wondering to know about its note in Baburs autobiography. Can you please share the pdf of the same to read about
    “The frogs of HindustÄn are worthy of notice. Though of the same species as our own, yet they will run twelve or fourteen feet on the face of the water”.

    In fact Babur missed giving name to this frog which he has seen in his backyard, first name was coined to this frog in 1799 by then scientists. Now we have coined the name Euphlyctis jaladhara which you have seen in your backyard.
    Thank you

  2. rocksea says:

    Laura, Sonali, Bindu: smiles 🙂

  3. bindu says:

    That’s a great picture! And interesting info about Babur’s writing.

  4. Sonali says:

    Nice shots!n cool, I didnt even know that Babur had written an auto biography. This sounds interesting.

  5. Kanak7 says:

    Wonderful images! You must be very busy with the camera whenever you come home to Kerala! I enjoy seeing all the Kottayam wildlife photos.

  6. great pictures, love the first one !
    you see a lot of great animals, thanks for sharing with us 😀

    Laura Abigail

  7. rocksea says:

    andy, dominic, grazie 🙂

  8. Very nice image, i love the close-up 😉

  9. Andy says:

    Wow really enjoyed reading about the frog from that ancient autobiography! Great job finding that information. Love the details of the frog in the first photo especially!

  10. hii,
    At the risk of sounding repetitive, each of ur blog intrigues me more than before. Its really awesome to know that our little indian frog was also observed and mentioned in Babur’s records. Thanks for this bit of knowledge!
    Also must tell u that like id said before, u have inspired me to write a fresh new blog. Please do visit and review it
    http://www.klishmaklaver.blogspot.com
    Wish you to review my work please.
    Lookin forward to hearing from u..
    Cheers,
    Vibhuti

  11. Frogs always remind me of the dissection I performed on them in the Zoology lab… Babur wrote an autobiography, my next book on the shelf, will get to that pdf soon… Thanks Rocksea:))

  12. Elaine- says:

    wow, a ‘Jesus’ frog!! can walk on water 🙂 suhweet!! lovely pictures tooooo… i don’t know, do you think the snow is slowing down the page? i guess i will turn it off then

    • rocksea says:

      hehe… a jesus frog indeed 😀

      am not sure if it is the snow animation slowing down your page. but it is a possibility for sure 🙂 we just had our first snow for the season.

  13. Excellent pics as usual..reminded me of a huge brown frog which used to visit us in the evenings (during vacations in our village) and make a loud noice…It was called “pokkachi thavala”..have no idea what species that was…
    How did you come across babur’s autobiography?

    • rocksea says:

      Hey Tinker, Babur’s autobiography was mentioned in one of the scientific papers which studied this species (linked). Then I saw that it was available for download, and checked it out 🙂

      pokkachi thavala, may be a generic name, I guess…

  14. Happy Kitten says:

    Good Lord! how did u manage that? looks like this fellow is familiar with u and hence posed for u!

    nd thanks for the Babar link.. caught my curiosity and I am trying to read at least until my interests lasts….

    • rocksea says:

      hehe the skipper might have got used to my frequent visits so that he was comfortable posing for a few shots before he dived down.

      yes the babur book is a treasure. yet to go through most of it. will try to print it out sometime..

  15. sandeep says:

    excellent shot … as always. luved the way its eyes are popping out and the green tone. and thnx for that info on ‘babur’. i am also quite surprised that he wrote an autobiography and had some interest in nature

  16. Srilatha says:

    This common frog is sooo well captured that it looks sooooo different . Amazing captures… Loved its eyes…

  17. Abhilash says:

    I have a frog in the well at home but that is too big in size and it never skitter in water but takes a deep dive and hides itself for 5-8 minutes. A great diver.

    Skittering frog is ofcouse new to me and nice to know that Babur wrote about it.

  18. Mridula says:

    It looks awesome and glad to hear that your fish was under no threat.

    I am thinking of buying a new zoom lens. Any tips on what to buy? You must be specializing in it looking at the pictures 😀

    • Abhilash says:

      Since Mridula asked the question I would also ask… Which is a camera I should use for photography. I am planning to buy one. I dont need professional photography as I am not good at it. Currently my camera is my mobile 🙂

      If you could suggest one then it would be nice.

      • rocksea says:

        Hey Abhi, I feel the Olympus UZ series might me good if you are not into the expensive DSLR. I have used an earlier version of the series and have had good results.

    • rocksea says:

      Hello mridula, for these shots I used a 200mm (fixed, not a zoom) macro lens, from tamron (which is cheaper than nikon lenses but works fine) along with a nikon d80 camera. So I got these images from a very close distance. I have a tamron 200-500mm zoom lens which needs to be often used with a tripod, under good lighting conditions.

      Which is your camera? For serious photography, nikon zoom lenses might be good.

  19. Mohan says:

    Awesome captures! Amazing colors with great depth of contrast… Simply can’t stop saying hats off for that beautiful capture of the frog’s eye!

  20. sarah says:

    It feels refreshing to see the frog immersed in water, though not an act I would give myself into at the moment with the snow outside! 😀

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