Save the Frogs Day

Yes, finally a day we can get excited about, it's Save the Frogs Day! Save the Frogs Day tries to create awareness to the threat to amphibian populations worldwide. We featured the Green Eyed Frog yesterday, one of the world's rarest animals, which is being wiped out by a harmful fungus but this is not the only frog facing extinction. In Ireland, our only frog, Rana temporaria, is a protected species but the use of pesticides and herbicides has a negative effect on their populations. According to the Save the Frogs website:

"Frog populations have been declining worldwide at unprecedented rates, and nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species are threatened with extinction. Up to 200 species have completely disappeared since 1980, and this is NOT normal: amphibians naturally go extinct at a rate of only about one species every 250 years!!! Frog populations are faced with an onslaught of environmental problems, including pollution, infectious diseases, habitat loss, invasive species, climate change, and over-harvesting for the pet and food trades. Unless these problems are remedied, amphibian species will continue to disappear, resulting in irreversible consequences to the planet’s ecosystems and to humans."

So what can you do? Well visit the Save the Frog website and sign the petition to save the frogs. You can also enter an essay, poetry or art competition. You can even buy one of their Save the Frogs T-Shirts. The website also contains some lesson material for teachers to help create awareness of the frog's plight. So mention it in your science classes today and help SAVE THE FROGS!