World’s weirdest amphibians - January 21, 2008
For 2008, officially the year of the frog (see Year of the what?; subscription needed), the Zoological Society of London has expanded its list of Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) animals to include amphibians (Reuters; New Scientist). The programme prioritises threatened creatures sitting on relatively isolated branches of the evolutionary tree (or, as their press release puts it, “the world’s weirdest and most endangered creatures”). They’ve assessed mammals (we last wrote about that when highlighting some odd, and very cute, Mongolian creatures, and we also have a feature on conservation priorities; subscription needed for both), and now they’ve done amphibians. Highlights include “a gigantic, ancient relative of the newt (pictured), a drawing-pin sized frog, and a blind see-through salamander.” (from the press release; pic credit International Cooperation Network for Giant Salamander Conservation)
Full lists can be found on the EDGE site (which seems to be down at the moment, but should be back up soon).
Such attention is surely a ‘good thing’, even if most of it is limited to a burst of press activity about the poor ugly creatures that need our love (Metro). But I’m keen to see if this, or any other amphibian conservation pushes this year, actually result in saving some frogs. There has been tonnes written over the past few years about the plight of amphibians doing very poorly indeed in the face of fungal infections and climate change, and we have published stories about lab experiments that seem to point the way to saving them; but there’s no news as yet of any extensive real-life projects aiming to save them. We wait in anticipation.
The top 10 ‘weird’ amphibians, taken from the EDGE press release, below the fold:
1) Chinese giant salamander (salamander that can grow up to 1.8m in length and evolved independently from all other amphibians over one hundred million years before Tyrannosaurus rex)
2) Sagalla caecilian (limbless amphibian with sensory tentacles on the sides of its head)
3) Purple frog (purple-pigmented frog that was only discovered in 2003 because it spends most of the year buried up to 4m underground)
4) Ghost frogs of South Africa (one species is found only in the traditional human burial grounds of Skeleton Gorge in Table Mountain, South Africa)
5) Olm (blind salamander with transparent skin that lives underground, hunts for its prey by smell and electrosensitivity and can survive without food for 10 years)
6) Lungless salamanders of Mexico (highly endangered salamanders that do not have lungs but instead breathe through their skin and mouth lining)
7) Malagasy rainbow frog (highly-decorated frog that inflates itself when under threat and can climb vertical rock surfaces)
8) Chile Darwin’s frog (a frog where fathers protect the young in their mouths, this species has not been officially seen since around 1980 and may now be extinct)
9) Betic midwife toad (toads that evolved from all others over 150million years ago – the males carry the fertilised eggs wrapped around their hind legs)
10) Gardiner’s Seychelles frog (perhaps the world’s smallest frog, with adults growing up to just 11mm in length – the size of a drawing pin)
Comments
There are pockets of real "species saving" going on, thankfully. See what's going on in California with the mountain yellow-legged frog. Or in Detroit with the Wyoming toad. I think a big difference between now and a couple of years ago is that zoos this year are mobilizing for a lot of new amphibian exhibits that can house the captive breeding programs for the most endangered species. It's turning out to be more grassroots than a top-down effort at this point, but it's real progress.
Posted by: Jeff | January 22, 2008 03:26 AM