It may be hard to believe it but in the world’s most populated continent, amphibians are quickly losing their grasp and are in danger of disappearing at an incredibly accelerated rate. It is estimated that 40% of the global amphibian population is currently in danger of becoming extinct, with more than 2,000 species currently considered “threatened”, “endangered” or “vulnerable” under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of Threatened Species. Among these animals, frog species are especially being hit hard; and nowhere is this more apparent than in Asia, where many species are drifting closer and closer towards extinction long before they are properly identified, studied and provided protection.
All across the continent, amphibians are being wiped out at such a fast rate that conservation efforts can hardly keep pace with their shrinking numbers. “These creatures are disappearing before we even know they exist,” explained Bruce Waldman, an associate professor at Seoul National University in Korea. Such is the problem, and researchers fear that frog populations in Asia will disappear before they are given a fighting chance to survive. “These are living jewels—but we don’t even know how many we have, and we are not saving them,” said Waldman.
Read more: http://greenanswers.com/news/290620/decline-asian-frogs#ixzz2GzzH2AIz
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