Australian Tree Frogs

There are many wondrous sounds spilling into the moonlight as you wander into the vast countryside known as the Australian Outback. The cool breeze carries the essence of open space and little eyes spy at you from dark corners between soft grass blade and cold hard rock. Even the slippery little tree frogs hopping about seem to tease your senses, just out of reach, but with a presence that fills you will the wild energy of this magnificent place. Although frogs have lungs, they absorb oxygen through their skin, and for this to occur efficiently, the skin must be moist. A disadvantage of moist skin is that pathogens can thrive on it, increasing the chance of infection. To counteract this, frogs secrete peptides that destroy these pathogens. The skin secretion from the Green Tree Frog contains caerins, a group of peptides with antibacterial and antiviral properties. Several peptides from the skin secretions of these frogs have been found to destroy HIV without harming healthy T-cells. This sound uses the following file from Freesound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=111403