"Amphibian Population Shrinks, Taking Potential Medicines With Them"

OMAHA, Neb. -- The global amphibian crisis continues to grow as conservationists estimate that up to half of all species of amphibians will go extinct in the next five to 10 years.

Dr. Lee Simmons said Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo is taking the lead on a global scale to help save the world's amphibians. Inside a quarantined area at the zoo, conservation effort is under way.

Trace Hardin, a reptile and amphibian keeper at the zoo, along with Simmons, said habitat loss, disease and pollution threaten the world's amphibian population. Together with chitryd fungus, the circumstances are combing to make the amphibian population disappear at what the researchers called an alarming rate. Of the 6,000 known species, experts believe up to 3,000 will disappear within the next decade.

Simmons said the chitryd fungus has been disastrous. He said it was spread around the globe by the African clod frog. Humans shipped the frogs to different countries for pregnancy tests. The African clod frog is unaffected by the chitryd fungus, but the fungus kills most other amphibians.

"If you take that big of a biomass out of the environment, the ripple effect has to be horrendous," Simmons said.
Henry Doorly's amphibian conservation area will hold up to 50 species of amphibians. Each room is a biologically isolated room with fresh air, it's own heating and air conditioning system, Simmon said.

Omaha's zoo, along with others, are trying to save whatever amphibian species they can. They gather populations near extinction, put them in captivity, breed them and then try to reintroduce them to their habitat. A remnant population of the species are kept in captivity as a safety net.

Those released into the wild are monitored to make sure they're not killed off again by the chitryd fungus.
"What we're doing is triage. We're grabbing and trying to save the most critically endangered ones that we can right now," Simmons said.

Toxins secreted from the skin of frogs and toads have a number of applications in human medicine. They have the potential to help with neurological disorders, to be used as pain killers and as anesthetics. Simmons said there is even potential for the secretions to be used as treatment for the AIDS virus.

"The potential is great. The problem is, many of these species will go extinct before they have time to investigate it. So the loss of some really great human medicines is there," Simmons said.

The zoo will continue to rescue what amphibians it can, including the Wyoming toad. Workers at the zoo are now trying to reintroduce it to its native habitat.

Those interested in helping the effort can adopt a wetland, contact local natural resources departments and participate in a statewide amphibian survey, Simmons said. Humans can create a habitat for amphibians, conserve water and reduce trash or make a pledge to the conservation breeding specialist group.
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We've got at least a couple of frogs and numerous tadpoles and such living in our ponds. This is our first spring and summer seasons for our ponds that we created last fall. It's been fun to see what wildlife has been attracted by it - and some of the wildlife seems to enjoy watching us as well. There is a little frog in there that was staring and staring at me the other day when I was weeding.