by Playfuls Staff |
16th February 2007
Scientists from around the world are hoping to save the Earth's amphibians from extinction with an "Amphibian Ark" [more] project.
"This is a mass extinction never before seen in human history," Joseph Mendelson, curator of herpetology at Zoo Atlanta, told The Los Angeles Times. "From a purely cold-hearted scientific perspective, it's a fascinating thing to document when we're still guessing what happened to dinosaurs."
The biggest threat facing the amphibians, mostly frogs, is the chytrid fungus. In the past 10 years, 170 of 6,000 amphibian species have become extinct. Now, 2,000 species are threatened, the scientists said.
The scientists meeting in Atlanta Thursday were focused on saving those 2,000 species of frogs, salamanders and toads, the Times reported. Realizing the species can't be preserved in the wild, the group is asking zoos and aquariums to build facilities to house 500 members of the endangered species, the Times said.
"Bringing (frogs) into an amphibian ark is really the last option," Kevin Buley, director of herpetology at Chester Zoo in England and chairman of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria's amphibian ark told the Times.
© 2007 UPI
