Gopher Frog
Lithobates capito
Status: Endangered. Their range is very small and specific, and so they are highly vulnerable to changes in their habitat, which has become fragmented from roads, fire suppression, and construction.
Frogs are ubiquitous little amphibians, swimming through freshwater streams and ponds, marshes and wetlands, yet frogs cast a long shadow in the imaginations of many cultures. Sometimes they are associated with the bringing of rain, sometimes with the cessation of rain. They sing from the reeds and mud banks in a hypnotic rhythm that is like a chant of power.
In Cherokee lore, solar and lunar eclipses happen when the great frog in the sky is trying to swallow the sun or moon. The tribe would come together and beat their drums to frighten off the great frog so that the celestial light could once again emerge.
References:
Wassen, Henry. "The Frog in Indian Mythology and Imaginative World." Anthropos, vol. 29, no. 5/6, 1934, pp. 613-658. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40446982. Accessed 13 Aug. 2021.
Mooney, J. (2012). Myths of the Cherokee. United States: Dover Publications.
Taylor, O. (1988). Historic Sullivan: Sullivan County, Tennessee. United States: Overmountain Press. 9-10.