Frog killer found after 6-year stakeout (CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

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On the trail in Central America

In 1998, Karen Lips, a young biologist from Southern Illinois University, helped identify a fungus that seemed to be killing off entire species of amphibians, including, possibly, the gastric brooding frog mentioned above.
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The best guess, according to Joe Mendelson, curator of herpetology at Zoo Atlanta, is that it attacks keratin, a protein that waterproofs the parts of a frog's skin most subject to wear and tear. The loss of keratin, it's believed, might throw off the critical water balance in a frog's body.
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The concern, Gascon said, is that between loss of habitat, toxins in the environment and global warming, "the Earth has been so stressed by mankind's footprint that, in the case of frogs, the chytrid fungus was the tipping point that indicates a dangerous turn in the overall health of the Earth's ability to sustain us all."
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Her findings have triggered a mission to rescue frogs in the path of the fungus, led by Zoo Atlanta's Mendelson and Ron Gagliardo of The Atlanta Botanical Garden. The approach, reminiscent of Noah's Ark, involves capturing enough males and females from each species, and breeding them in captivity, to establish survival colonies.
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more at: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/02/21/frog.fungus/index.html

[uppityperson]

1. Very interesting, not what I was expecting.

Not "snakes on planes" but a real eco problem. Thanks for the article.

[TomInTib]

2. I thought it was gonna be about * or frist. nt

[Crunchy Frog]

3. I wish they would have started that captive breeding program

before the Golden toads disappeared.