Yes, you guessed it, they both use ladders.  Frogs and toads in Scotland are being provided with ladders in gulley pots to help them escape from roadside drainage systems.  The vertical sides of the structure make it impossible for amphibians to climb out if they are washed in and they die a slow death.  Along with roadkill, these gulley pots have been identified as the major causes of avoidable deaths in the dwindling population of Scottish frogs and toads, so it is hoped that their falling numbers can be helped by the installation of escape ladders. The escape ladders in the drainage system have been custom built for the frogs, but if you have a pond in your garden you can provide an easy route out by putting plastic mesh, or trellis in the pond, weighed down with a stone in the water.  This simple technique helps amphibians out of the water and the makeshift ladder can be used by other wildlife that may fall into the pond, such as hedgehogs and squirrels.

Gorillas and Ladders

Gorillas in the wild have also been observed to use ladders.  These are not man made ladders designed to help the gorillas escape from storm drains (there are not many of those in the jungle!), but improvised ladders used to overcome obstacles.  A mother gorilla was seen to use a bamboo shoot as a rescue ladder for her infant, after she heard him crying and saw he could not climb up to where she was. The bamboo shoot was the perfect size for the baby gorilla to grasp, and when he grabbed hold of it, he realised he could now clamber up and join mum. Gorillas have not generally been considered as prolific tool users, compared to chimpanzees and orangutans, who have been observed using sticks to help them reach food in the wild and captivity. Gorillas seem to only use tools or alter their environment in order to move around better, a bit like the frogs are doing. Interestingly enough, 'monkey ladder' is also another term for cat ladder, a ladder on the exterior of a building, typically for roof access that is encircled by a metal cage to protect the climber.  It is also the name for a type of vine that grows in rainforests. The vine looks like a bit like a giant bicycle chain, with seed-pods creating little rungs.  It is called the Monkey Ladder vine because it is perfect for monkeys to climb as they travel around the canopy.  Of course, monkeys use all types of vine and trees to get around, but this one really does look like a ladder designed for monkeys. And finally, did you know that frogs don't just use ladders to get out of drains?  Tree frogs were used in post medieval Europe as a means of weather forecasting: a frog was placed in a jar with a little water in the bottom and a ladder and the higher the frog climbed up the ladder, the better the weather.  If the frog retreated into the water, it meant rain was on the way.  This idea was so popular that the German word for weather forecaster, or indeed anyone who is particularly interested in it, is Wetterfrosch, which literally translates to 'weather frog'.  Not many people have a real live weather frog nowadays, but there is a desktop weather frog programme, and an app of the same name, so you too can have your own virtual weather frog!