animal news - amphibians

Global Extinction Threat to Amphibians

A new form of fungus could partly explain the dramatic decline in all amphibian species throughout the world.

An infection, the chytrid fungus, has been found in frogs toads, salalmanders and newts over six continents and is the first wildlife disease to have spread on a global scale.
Along with ever decreasing habitats, due to human destruction, amphibians have little chance of survival. However some toad populations are showing signs of stability, but in greatly suppressed numbers. It remains to be seen if they will eventually develope a natural defensive mechanism against the fungus, which first appeared in the late 1970's.
Chytrid fungus is said to be newly evolved descendent that only once live off dead plant material.

Common weedkiller is changing gender of Frogs

A recent study by the University of California, Berkley has shown that a widely used herbicide is changing the gender of frogs.

The North American study shows that Atrazine, a chemical used in many weedkillers has caused major changes in frog species. Male sperm counts have been dropped dramatically. And as with recent studies in river rish, species are changing from male to female.

This is believed to be a major reason why there is a global decline in frog populations.

Looking-Glass comments:
We can't stress enough how important it is to encourage amphibian wildlife back into your garden… Trendy and pretentious decking, water features and pebbles placed Feng Shui style are absolutely no use at all for our struggling wildlife…. Use your common sense, and if you have to arrange your garden like a fashion accessory, do it with consideration towards nature... and NEVER use a weedkiller

This article last updated or added to in: November 2002

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