Mountain Chicken Frog Endangered Species for ReptilesTV
Considered one of the world’s largest frogs, it reaches lengths of eight inches and weighs up to two pounds.
Dr. Paul Reillo gives Nigel Marven a tour of their Mountain Chicken Frog breeding project and discusses the issues causing this amazing amphibian to be threatened in their natural habitat. For more go to: http://www.reptilestv.com or http://www.rarespecies.org
Duration : 0:5:24
Related Reading:
Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed
Exo Terra Expedition Uganda 2005
The 2005 Exo Terra Ugandan Expedition was a resounding success! The eleven team members returned safely from their 15-day expedition to Uganda, where they studied the reptile and amphibian fauna in their natural habitat. The team, headed by Emmanuel Van Heygen (product manager for Exo Terra), experienced many exciting adventures — bringing back some great stories and even more amazing movies and photographs.
Duration : 0:2:6
Related Reading:
2008: Year of the Frog Campaign
Watch the High Definition version of this video at:
www.vimeo.com/merumontanus
Or watch here on Youtube and click on “watch in high quality” in the options below the video.
—————————-
Having been around for approximately 350 million years, amphibians have witnessed the dinosaurs come and go, and as a result of pollution, climate change, habitat destruction, over-exploitation for food and the pet trade, almost half of all amphibians are now themselves facing extinction.
Apart from natural and man-made environmental pressures, frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians are vanishing as a result of a fungus that is spreading rapidly among the world’s amphibian populations. It is believed that the chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) originated in Africa, and has already spread throughout all continents except Asia and the poles.
Currently, more than 90 species are affected by the fungus– this, combined with other environmental factors mentioned above, are responsible for what may be the most devastating mass extinction of a class of animals since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 64 million years ago.
In the last two decades, we have lost over 120 species of amphibians, and we could lose more than half of the existing 6000 species in only ten years if the trend continues. This could have disastrous effects on the planet’s equilibrium as amphibians are a critical component of our world’s biodiversity.
Apart from providing us with vital biomedicines currently being refined for antibiotics and analgesics, amphibians are indicators of environmental health, acting as “canaries in a coal mine”– alerting us of dangerous changes in our environment.
For more information regarding the current state of amphibian populations, or to help manage the current extinction crisis, visit Amphibian Ark at amphibianark.org.
Jump in. Because frogs matter.
For more on the issue: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3743682.stm
Duration : 0:1:26
