PART TWO

Allow me to introduce you to the Golden Toad…

HOW cool is he?? Not being funny but if I were to risk a smooch with a frog as a gamble at finding my prince, I’m pretty sure this guy would stand out as a strong candidate.

Not sure they’d be too impressed by me though, check out the females…

Unfortunately the purpose of this post (like the previous) isn’t only to marvel at awesome little creatures. It’s to dwell on how sad it is that they disappeared without so much of a royal send off. Don’t worry! We won’t DWELL but such is the nature of wildlife conservation – there are sad turns in the plot.

The Lost Prince

In 1989 the Golden Toad Incilius Periglenes was one of the first species to become extinct due to reasons other than habitat destruction or overexploitation.

If not habitat destruction or overexploitation, why did they go extinct?

There were no obvious changes in environment, no deforestation, no increase in tourist traffic. They were actually found in a small area of undisturbed montane cloud forest in northern Costa Rica. (This region has been designated as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve which is good.) Their disappearance was both sad and unsettling because we couldn’t explain it.

This species went extinct so quickly – 20 out of 50 species of frogs and toads in the same area disappeared synchronously – who knows how many have gone before they were even under our radar.

Little was known about the Golden Frog, as is the case for many amphibian species. The reality is that a lot of species are disappearing before we’ve even identified them and know they’re there. Don’t you find that sad???

So frogs are disappearing in distant mysterious forests.

Why does it matter??

I’m banking on a healthy population of frogs as a back up crew in case I don’t ever find a prince. That’s why.

Joking aside! This may not matter to you. But it matters to me. And here’s why it might matter to the world.

1. Most amphibians are highly specialised. This means they can live in insane environmental conditions. This also causes problems, because because of their victory in the harsh game of Evolution – that is, somehow having the perfect incredibly specialised characteristics to survive in extreme conditions – they then rely on these insane conditions to survive because they’re bodies are so specialised!

They live in two environments, land and water, and have thin skin that they can breathe through. How. Cool. BUT said skin can also absorb toxic chemicals, radiation, and diseases. Hence amphibians are invaluable as ecosystem indicators. If there are lots of frogs and other amphibians in a habitat, it means the ecosystem is healthy. Like I said, there was no observable reason for the Golden Frog’s sudden decline. Climatic changes or fungal diseases are the only explanations that have been proposed. Their disappearance could be the sign of things more sinister to come.

2. Like most animals, amphibians play an important role within their ecosystem. They are sometimes herbivores, sometimes omnivores (check out bullfrogs on youtube – scary stuff), they bring balance and loss of them has knock on effects on the rest of the ecosystem. (Please refer to previous post Ghosts of the Ice Age)

3. They’re beautiful and their natural history (although largely unknown) is probably awesome.

I didn’t know the Golden Frog had existed, or that it went extinct. I wasn’t here to watch the news in 1989 but I wonder whether it was acknowledged publicly? The thought of creatures disappearing into extinction without us even knowing they exist makes me feel….(struggling for an adjective here). Sad? Guilty? Helpless?

But I said we wouldn’t dwell! So before part two ends, here’s a photo of a common toad we came across in Scotland last week. Just chilling right in our path and luckily for her, spotted and not under our feet!

| Stay tuned for part three |