Scientists Plan Launch Of "Amphibian Ark" As Last Chance For 1000s Of Species On The Edge - LA Times

[hatrack]

ATLANTA — Scientists from across the world gathered here Thursday to launch an "Amphibian Ark" for thousands of species of frogs, toads and salamanders threatened by a deadly fungus.

The ark project was envisaged as scientists came to realize that the amphibians could not be saved in the wild, said Kevin Zippel, the project's amphibian program officer. The group is appealing to zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens across the world to construct special bio-secure facilities for 500 each of nearly 2,000 endangered amphibian species — most of which are frogs. After the frogs are collected, they would be cleaned to make sure they did not bring the fungus into the captive environments. It is estimated that that portion of the project will cost about $40 million.

The scientists estimate that their larger goal of researching how to save the species will cost 10 times that amount. They are establishing a global fundraising campaign and plan to designate 2008 "Year of the Frog." Scientists liken the crisis facing amphibians from the fungus and other causes to the extinction of dinosaurs: About 170 of the nearly 6,000 species of amphibians have become extinct in the last decade, and 2,000 more are threatened.

"This is a mass extinction never before seen in human history," said Joseph Mendelson, curator of herpetology at Zoo Atlanta and executive director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' amphibian specialist group. "From a purely cold-hearted scientific perspective, it's a fascinating thing to document when we're still guessing what happened to dinosaurs." Among the extinct species is the Costa Rican golden toad. The Panama golden frog and the Dominican mountain chicken frog are close to extinct. In California, about 85% of the 650 frog populations at Yosemite National Park are infected with the fungus.

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-frogs16feb16,0,5574345.story

[MuseRider]

1. Good lord.

All those precious creatures die off while we, the planet offenders keep on keeping on. I have no doubt this is a direct result of our doing.

[sakabatou]

2. The world is dying...

:(

[MountainLaurel]

10. We have reached the end

And it isn't going to be pretty.

[Hoping4Change]

3. I read somewhere that frogs are the equivalent to canaries in a coal mine.

This is an important story. Kicked and recommended.

ps Can you imagine the massive public response if a deadly fungus attacked dogs?

[CrazyOrangeCat]

4. k&r

;(

[phantom power]

5. Fucking hell.

"scientists came to realize that the amphibians could not be saved in the wild"

could not be saved in the wild

Fucking, fucking hell.

[mikelgb]

6. croak indeed

[roguevalley]

7. I would donate large to that.

[OneBlueSky]

8. better start working on a honey bee ark, too . . . n/t

[YankeyMCC]

9. It's not a hopeful sign to be building these 'arks'

Probably a good idea but still it's a bit depressing. First that 'vault' Norway is building now this.

sigh