Author's Note:
This is the final 50-word story in the series of my 50 hypothetical 'new boyfriends'.
But wait, I have not finished yet! There is more to come! Blinded by tears, tomorrow I will post a longer story. I will reveal what I did with Victor's body, and will pose the question: Is there a happily ever after?

These days, it seems most people have a short attention span for reading, and my final wrap-up is much, much longer than a mere 50 words. Also, I am having a difficult time letting my 'Boyfriend' series go, so I wanted another day for storytelling.

A FROG is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians. Their origins may date back 265 million years ago. The greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforests. There are over 6,300 recorded species, accounting for around 88 per cent of existing amphibian species.

Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, with frogs more likely to be based near water while toads are more terrestrial.

Many environmental scientists believe amphibians, including frogs, are good biological indicators of broader ecosystem health because of their intermediate positions in food chains, their permeable skins, and typically biphasic lives (aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults). Frog populations have declined significantly since the 1950s. It appears that species with both aquatic eggs and larvae are most affected by the decline, while those with direct development are the most resistant. More than one third of species are considered to be threatened with extinction and over 120 are believed to have become extinct since the 1980s.

The cane toad is a very adaptable species native to South and Central America. Because I am Australian, I will tell you about cane toads there. In 1935, 3000 toads were liberated in the sugar cane fields of Queensland in an attempt to control cane beetles, which damage and kill the canes. It became apparent that the toads upset the ecological balance in their new environments. They bred freely, competed with native frog species, ate bees and other harmless native invertebrates, had few predators in their adopted habitats, and poisoned pets, carnivorous birds, and mammals. They are now regarded both as pests and an invasive species. They are taking over Northern Australia.

I have mentioned France in my story, but frog legs are eaten by humans in many parts of the world. The dish is also common in French-speaking parts of Louisiana as well as New Orleans. In Asia, frog legs are consumed in China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

I am not so weird after all, to be engaging in cross-species relationships. Precedent has been set. There are several versions of Frog Went a-Courtin', an English-language folk song that made its first appearance in 1548. More recently, other renditions have appeared by artists such as Chubby Parker, Mike Oldfield, Bob Dylan, The Wiggles, and Bruce Springsteen. See "Frog Went a-Courtin'" at Wikisource for one version of the lyrics. You'll be able to think of other cross-species romances, such as The Owl and The Pussycat, by Edward Lear.

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