Amphibians are the world’s most vulnerable animals and threats are increasing
1 year, 2 months ago

Amphibians are the world’s most vulnerable animals and threats are increasing

Associated Press  

The world’s frogs, salamanders, newts and other amphibians remain in serious trouble. “Amphibians are the world’s most threatened animals,” said Duke University’s Junjie Yao, a frog researcher who was not involved in the study. “Their unique biology and permeable skin make them very sensitive to environmental changes.” The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, found that the loss of habitat from the expansion of farming and ranching is the single biggest threat to amphibians worldwide. Juan Manuel Guayasamin, a frog biologist at the University San Francisco of Quito, Ecuador, said that advances in technology to track animals and climate variations allowed the new study to use much more precise data than the 2004 assessment. Other locations with large numbers of threatened amphibians include Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, southern China and the southeastern United States.

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History of this topic

77 frog species in Kerala staring at extinction, warns “Frog Man”
3 weeks, 6 days ago

77 frog species in Kerala staring at extinction, warns “Frog Man”

The Hindu  

Seventy-seven out of the 181 frog species found in Kerala are facing threats of extinction, said herpetologist Sathyabhama Das Biju, widely known as Frogman of India, here on Tuesday. Quoting from the Red List published by the International Union for Conservation, Mr. Biju said that three species were critically endangered, 46 endangered, and 28 species were vulnerable. Many endangered amphibian …

Scores of amphibians have been recently discovered; but they are the most threatened vertebrate class in the world
1 year, 2 months ago

Scores of amphibians have been recently discovered; but they are the most threatened vertebrate class in the world

The Hindu  

Bird squawk or frog croak? “We now have around 465 species of amphibians,” says Gururaja, a faculty at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology. “When I wrote my thesis in 2002, India had 220 species, and I’d say there are 100-150 more to be discovered.” Even as biologists celebrate the discovery of new species, they are aware …

Nevada toad in geothermal power fight gets endangered status
2 years ago

Nevada toad in geothermal power fight gets endangered status

Associated Press  

RENO, Nev. — A tiny Nevada toad at the center of a legal battle over a geothermal power project has officially been declared an endangered species, after U.S. wildlife officials temporarily listed it on a rarely used emergency basis last spring. Ormat Vice President Paul Thomsen said in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday that the company disagrees …

In Madagascar, scientists discover the world’s smallest reptile
3 years, 10 months ago

In Madagascar, scientists discover the world’s smallest reptile

Live Mint  

Scientists have identified Earth's smallest known reptile, warning at the same time that sustained destruction of forests in northern Madagascar threatens its survival. "We discovered it in the mountains of northern of Madagascar," Frank Glaw, curator of herpetology at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, told AFP in an interview. Islands connected long ago to neighbouring continents are known for …

Three American Frog Species Have Now Been Declared Extinct Because of Climate Change
4 years ago

Three American Frog Species Have Now Been Declared Extinct Because of Climate Change

News 18  

Three Central American frog species have gone extinct and many others may soon follow as their populations are ravaged by a fungus that is spreading faster because of climate change, conservationists said Thursday. Among the 31 species added to the “extinct” category in the latest Red List update was the often magnificently colourful Chiriqui harlequin frog — which is actually …

'Superfungus' Threatens to Wipe Out Critically Endangered Panamanian Golden Frogs
4 years, 3 months ago

'Superfungus' Threatens to Wipe Out Critically Endangered Panamanian Golden Frogs

News 18  

Cocooned from the outside world, some 200 critically endangered golden frogs are living a sheltered existence in Panama, protected from a devastating fungus that threatens to wipe out a third of the country’s amphibian species — a situation scientists describe as “critical.” The frogs, which are yellow or gold with black spots, enjoy a controlled environment inside fish tanks installed …

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