Frogs threatened with mass extinction

[Wayne Harrison]

An international campaign has been launched to help save the world’s amphibians from extinction.

Scientists fear the largest mass extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs because of a deadly virus which is sweeping through populations of frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians across the globe.

Amphibians have thrived for hundreds of millions of years but as many as half of all species could perish unless a solution is found. The spread of the parasitic fungus amphibian chytrid, which has proved deadly for hundreds of amphibian species, may have been made worse by the effects of global warming. The disease has so far proved unstoppable in the wild and can kill 80 per cent of native amphibians within months once it has taken hold.

Amphibians are important as an 'indicator species’ - similar to canaries in a coal mine - who serve as a warning when there is something wrong with the environment. Now 2008 has been designated Year of the Frog by conservationists to raise awareness of the plight of amphibians and to raise the funds needed for a concerted worldwide effort to save them.

Full story in Telegraph UK

[wendy]

hmm don' t know i feel bout this. I like the newts and the salamanders, but i have had a fear of frogs and toads for a long time, i think i could do with out them as long as the salamanders stuck around.