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b'Thanks to Max for suggesting one of our slightly spooky amphibians this week!\\n\\nFurther reading:\\nNew crocodile newt discovered in Vietnam\\nFurther watching:\\n\\nBrave Wilderness Giant Screaming Frog!\\n\\nThe new Halloween-y crocodile newt discovered in Vietnam [photo by Phung My Trung and taken from the article linked above]:\\n\\n\\n\\nA smoky jungle frog:\\n\\n\\n\\nA screenshot from the video linked above:\\n\\n\\n\\nShow transcript:\\nWelcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I\\u2019m your host, Kate Shaw.\\nIt\\u2019s the end of September and you know what that means: we\\u2019re about to start Monster Month! This year I have so many awesome ideas for episodes that we\\u2019re starting monster month early, with a non-spooky episode about two sort of spooky-looking amphibians. Thanks to Max for suggesting one of the animals we\\u2019re about to talk about!\\nInstead of rating the monster month episodes on a spookiness scale from one to five ghosts, this year we\\u2019re rating them on a spookiness scale of one to five bats, which seems more appropriate. This episode is only one bat, meaning even our younger listeners shouldn\\u2019t find it scary.\\nBut first, a quick correction. Thanks very much to Mary for catching a mistake I made in last week\\u2019s rhinoceros episode. I said that black rhinos can weigh 18 kilograms, when I should have said 1800 kilograms. 18 kg is about 40 pounds, so I think you can agree that I made a BIG mistake.\\nNow, on to the \\u201cspooky\\u201d amphibians.\\nLots of amphibians live in southeast Asia, many of them never seen by scientists. In 2018, a team of scientists were studying crocodile newts in Vietnam when they discovered one that didn\\u2019t look like any of the many other crocodile newts that live in Asia. Since there are over 30 species known, with new ones being discovered all the time, including seven others from Vietnam alone, they suspected this might be a species new to science.\\nThe new newt lives in high elevations in the central highlands in Vietnam, much farther south and in much higher elevations than the other known crocodile newt species. After the initial finding in 2018, the lead scientist, an amphibian and reptile expert named Phung My Trung (apologies because I probably pronounced his name wrong) spent four years searching for more specimens and learning about them before he described it as a new species.\\nOne thing I love is that he was quoted as saying that the adult newts \\u201cwere so beautiful that I was shaking and could hardly believe I was holding a live specimen in my hand.\\u201d And it is absolutely a gorgeous animal. It\\u2019s black with orangey-red markings on its back, lovely Halloween colors, and in fact the markings sort of look like the skull, backbone, and ribs of a cartoon skeleton. Females are bigger than males, and a big female can grow as much as 3 inches long, or 7.5 cm, from snout to vent, not counting its tail that\\u2019s almost as long as its body.\\nThat\\u2019s pretty much all we know so far about this newt. Because it appears to have such a restricted range, it\\u2019s most likely endangered due to habitat loss and climate change, but now that we know it\\u2019s there, scientists and conservationists can work to keep it and its habitat safe.\\nOur other amphibian this week is one suggested by Max. Max, by the way, is an incredible artist who specializes in making reptiles and amphibians out of clay. Max asked specifically about the giant screaming frog, which definitely sounds like a Halloween-themed animal.\\nThe giant screaming frog isn\\u2019t the actual name of the frog, or at least I couldn\\u2019t find a frog with that specific name. I think it\\u2019s from an awesome video posted in 2017. I\\u2019ll put a link in the show notes if you want to watch the video, which is a YouTube channel called Brave Wilderness. In the video, a man called Coyote Peterson catches a giant frog called the Smoky Jungle Frog. When he does, the frog makes this sound:\\n[screaming frog!]\\nThat doesn\\u2019t actually sound all that spooky. But it is a warning call so I bet other smoky jungle frogs think it\\u2019s terr...'