n the midst of the museum's whirring machines and spinning lights, we are building a peaceful, calm oasis. Water trickles from a fountain. Green plants cover the curving walls. The sounds of a country evening waft gently through the area, punctuated by high-pitched chirps, rhythmic calls, guttural croaks.

This is a world that's full of frogs. For the next six months, the Exploratorium's temporary exhibition area will become a nature preserve displaying some of the world's most fascinating creatures. More than 75 individual animals, representing 18 species of frogs and toads, will be housed in terrariums and aquariums that are being built to replicate habitats from all corners of the globe. The African clawed frog, a powerful swimmer, will have a tall water-filled tank in which to show off its aquatic acrobatics. A cane toad from Australia will burrow into a mossy nest. Delicate poison arrow frogs from the South American rainforest will sit like tiny jewels in a miniature jungle landscape.

	The poison-arrow frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) of South America. [Click for a larger image.] Photo by Amy Snyder.

In a tank near the exhibition's entrance, you'll be able to watch bullfrog tadpoles in every stage of their metamorphosis. Some will have developed tails, others will have powerful back legs that will soon enable them to hop about on land. Illustrations of fairy tale frogs, Aztec glyphs depicting toads, and delicate Chinese brush paintings will be exhibited alongside the tanks to show how human artists have portrayed these living treasures throughout time. In the center of the exhibition area, you'll be able to hear a chorus of frog calls. Enter a screened porch, relax on a "garden" bench, and listen to a recording of the sounds that might fill a summer night. Frogs will call across an invisible pond, searching for a mate. Slowly the sound will build, adding voice on top of voice until the air is filled with a symphony of frogs. Outside, listening stations will offer a variety of individual frog calls and a sampling of the music humans have made to imitate their amphibian cousins.

© 1999, The Exploratorium