Frog loving CEOs in Prince Charles video

Nice to see Prince Charles’ Rainforests Project placing frogs into the hands (and on the shoulders) of Richard Branson, Michael Dell, Eric Schmidt (Google) and the CEOs of many other large companies that clearly are committed to environmental stewardship. Gotta talk to my peeps at Amphibian Ark about following up with these business leaders, to see if they can help Amphibian Ark some day! Of course, by aligning with this rainforest charity, they are already doing tons.

 

Panama’s disappearing frogs

A terrific story in Friday’s Christian Science Monitor (story HERE) reports on the valiant efforts to stave off amphibian extinctions in Panama. The story details the work of a Panamanian with the tattoo of a toad on his calf who has teamed with a Wisconsin woman who used to be in the Peace Corps. The ravages of chytrid are detailed. A very good read. Good to see the connection to Amphibian Ark, and good to see quotes from the Ark’s Kevin Zippel.

 

Dammed if you do

According to Mongabay, the United Nations through its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is helping the developing world reduce carbon emissions by financing projects like hydroelectric dams. A new one under construction in Panama is pending carbon credit certification from CDM. Unfortunately, the dams can wipe out indigenous, fragile wildlife, arguably put something worse into the sky — and in the case of the Panama dam could displace an indigenous tribe. Excerpt:

The American firm (AES Corporation of Virginia) has requested carbon credit certification under the CDM for the project, claiming that the dam will help against global warming. However, recent research suggests that tropical dams release methane, a gas which has more than 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

Beyond potential emissions from flooding, environmentalists say the dam threatens La Amistad Reserve, Central America’s largest intact rainforest. Biologists have counted more than 215 mammal species, 600 birds, 115 fish, 250 reptiles and amphibians to date in the reserve, including 180 plant species and 40 bird species found no-where else in the world. La Amistad’s biological stars include the quetzal, harpy eagle, howler monkey, jaguarondi, tiger-cat, tapir, and jaguar. In January scientists from the Natural History Museum of London announced three new species of salamander from the Costa Rican side of the park, proving that there was still much left undiscovered in La Amistad Reserve.

 

Endangered frogs out on a limb could help humans regrow missing limbs

Another example of the medical miracles that frogs can reveal to make life better for humans. Full story here. An excerpt:

New research on amphibians could soon give researchers a leg up on how limbs develop in a host of organisms, and one day lead to techniques to repair injuries in humans.

Dalhousie post-doctoral researcher Ryan Kerney’s work in figuring out how a frog found in Puerto Rico’s rainforests develops its limbs has just been published in the journal Evolution and Development.

The emerging field of regenerative medicine is watching this type of research closely hoping to understand how limb development findings could be applied to humans. Regenerative medicine looks at how stem cells can be used to regrow missing structures or guide in the development of structures within an organism.

 

Mongabay reports on frog naming auction

Nice to see Mongabay write about the walking frog auction:

The Amphibian Ark, an initiative to save disappearing amphibians from extinction, will auction of the naming rights of a newly discovered ‘walking frog’ in Ecuador to raise money for local conservation efforts.

The naming rights for the frog, which belongs to the Osornophryne genus, will be sold at charitybuzz.com. The winning bidder’s selected name will be published in a scientific journal. Bidding ends May 31. 2008.

Auctioning off naming rights for species is increasingly used by conservation groups to raise money for protecting biodiversity. 

 

Walking frog. Courtesy of the Amphibian Ark

Walking frogs are known for having no tadpole stage. Instead froglets emerge directly out of eggs.

More than one-third the world’s amphibians are at risk due to habitat loss, the introduction of alien species, overexploitation as food and pets, pollution, climate change, and the outbreak of a deadly fungal disease.

 

Poison dart frogs can parachute

Ever wonder how frogs that are born at the top of a rainforest canopy come down to earth? This video explains it all. They can parachute! The video comes from St. Mary’s College of Maryland of St. Mary’s City, Maryland. Rachel Clement studied “the parachuting behavior of Dendrobates pumilio, the strawberry poison dart frog,” a year ago in Panama’s Bocas del Toro province. According to Rachel’s research paper, which she shared with me:

“D. pumilio has never been documented parachuting until this study.  Dendrobates pumilio is mainly terrestrial, but female frogs must ascend and descend trees multiple times daily to deposit and care for their tadpoles in canopy bromeliads.”

This frog, as it turns out, has its babies in the treetops, and then the little guys and gals have to get down to earth to live the rest of their lives. It’s just that mom has to go up and down to care for them until their big leap.

“…when a metamorphosed froglet emerged from its bromeliad, it would hypothetically be able to parachute to the ground rather than making the arduous, energy-intensive crawl down a tree backwards as the first use of its new limbs. Since this study suggests that females may prove to be better parachuters than males upon further investigation, it is possible that parachuting is a ‘hardwired’ behavior practiced most often by females, who have reason to enter the canopy multiple times daily. It is possible that some males, in this case, would only parachute on their descent from the canopy as a froglet, and very seldom in later life.”

 (Rachel Clement photo)