Scientists Airlift Giant, Endangered Frogs

Mountain Chicken Frogs Of Montserrat Threatened By Virgulent Fungus

(AP)  Scientists are airlifting dozens of one of the world's largest frogs off of Montserrat island to save them from a deadly fungus devastating their dwindling habitat.

The dense forest of this tiny British Caribbean territory is the last remaining stronghold of the critically endangered mountain chicken frog, a 2-pound, frying pan-size amphibian that got its name because locals say its meat tastes like - you guessed it - chicken.

Once eaten as a delicacy, the frog was hunted and much of its habitat on Montserrat was destroyed by the temperamental Soufriere Hills volcano. Now experts fear a virulent fungus could decimate the few thousand frogs they estimate survive.

"Its impact has been catastrophic," Andrew Cunningham, senior scientist with the Zoological Society of London, said of the chytrid fungus. "The mountain chicken frog has been virtually wiped out."

Experts have found 300 dead frogs and believe hundreds more have perished since the fungus surfaced in late February, said Gerardo Garcia, director of the herpetology department at the British-based Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

To save the frogs, scientists are giving some of them anti-fungal baths and scooping up dozens of others and flying them at a total cost of $14,000 to zoos in Britain and Sweden, where they live in temperature-controlled rooms with automatic spray systems. About 50 have been flown off the island.

Biologists clad in full paper suits will care for them until they are released.

"We're in a situation where the species could become extinct forever," Garcia said.

Frogs should ideally be kept in their natural habitat, but flying them out was the only short-term solution, said Andrew Terry, Durrell's conservation manager.

They would not have enough to eat if restricted to fungus-free areas, he said.

"Mountain chickens are hardy animals with a wide range of dietary needs," Terry said.

The fungus already has devastated the mountain chicken on Dominica, a nearby island that once served as the frog's other home and whose coat of arms bears the amphibian's image.

Natives on both islands used to favor the frog's meaty legs, although it is mostly tourists now who request them, said Gerard Gray, director of Montserrat's Department of Environment.

Experts are still trying to figure out how to eradicate the fungus, which has killed a range of frog species from Asia to South America.

Chytridiomycosis causes lethargy and convulsions, and thickens the skin that frogs breathe through.

Mountain chickens are nocturnal animals that live in rough terrain, making them hard to find to get an accurate tally of their numbers, Gray said. Scientists estimate a few thousand live on Montserrat.

The large frogs sound like a small howling dog when they croak.

Gray remembers the night he heard a mountain chicken croak and it was so loud he thought it had crawled under his bed.

"My wife laughed at me," he said. "It was in the forest where it was supposed to be."

Hunting aside, the number of frogs was already dwindling in Montserrat because of the active volcano. It has erupted continuously since 1995 and forced more than half of the island's 12,000 people to leave.

But the volcano might prove to be the frog's ultimate savior. Local officials hope to relocate the frog to a region cut off by lava and ash that is inaccessible by foot, and - they hope - free of fungus.

[rushlimpdrug]

So what is the story on the virgulent fungus?

[Slrman]

As usual the writers at CBS news demonstrate their total lack of literacy by not understanding where commas are needed. It should be "Giant Endangered Frogs" with no comma. How far the profession of journalist has fallen! Most articles on the news appear to have been written by a disinterested 7th grader. I wonder if there are even any editors employed at CBS? Perhaps the few that remain were chosen from the pool of incompetents that comprise the reporters.

[Mccarthyaw]

"mankind" can't save the planet. We're not God. God's will will be done.
Posted by Fighting4Freedom at 5:04 PM : May 9, 2009

We can destroy the planet though.

[Dgunner]

The United States government did the same for my ancestors. Instead of giving them a lift . They just walked them to death. The TRAIL OF TEARS. Not once but twice. The massacre of the Lakota tribe to the brink of extinction. The imprisonment of the chira cua apche for twenty seven years. Lucky they weren't on the food chain.. It was easier to infect them with biological germ warfare. Small pox and measles.Tomain poising from tainted food.Now they spend collectively 14000 a frog to fly them out of a dangerous area. BOGGLES THE MIND.

[slownewsday05]

If you believe in a God, that's great. My apologies if I offended anyone. I should give context to what I wrote...

I believe in a god, just not the one the evangelicals claim as theirs. I don't begrudge anyone their beliefs, but the rule of law comes first. There's a reason for the First Amendment.

To me, most evangelicals are religious extremists, regardless of what religion they are, and I think the world has had enough of that type.

Thomas Jefferson said "religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God". That's the real spirit of the Founding Fathers.

[slownewsday05]

The new liberal motto:

Save a frog, kill a baby
Posted by Fighting4Freedom


Yeah, well, at least the frogs are endangered. We don't have a shortage of humans. Quite the opposite.

[slownewsday05]

"mankind" can't save the planet. We're not God. God's will will be done.
Posted by Fighting4Freedom


Sounds like a liberal waiting for someone else to do the job for him.

There is no God. Only mankind can save the planet.

Man's will be done.

[roger_inkart]

Wow. Look at the attention paird to these frogs make the conservative freaks feel even more insecure.

Y'know, if you losers had more going for you in your lives then hating nature and liberals, articles like this wouldn't drive you so nuts.

[puzzler125]

My answer to this is the same as my answer to ALL the questions about whether we can do "both" and that is, yep, there's enough money for both if we're organized enough to figure it all out carefully.

[hush_puppy]

Lets get back to the part they taste like chicken!

[carolhill814]

I am so happy we are trying to save these frogs because we are causing the problems for them so now we have to save them from us.

[curse914]

So what you're saying is that we should save frogs and murder babies to save the planet?

How mind-bogglingly typical of the brainwashed, unwashed American...

Posted by Rowdy109 at 9:06 AM : May 9, 2009

No, you sorry sack. Answer the question that even a child could answer. How can a perpetual growth economic system function on a finite planet. Just answer it, I knew that you would dance around it.

I can see Rowdy in grade school. Rowdy's teacher tries to explain to her that you can only fill a glass to the top with orange juice, Rowdy retorts "no look I am pouring more in".

Teacher: "no, Rowdy, the orange juice is spill over the side"

Rowdy: "yes, but I am pouring more in!!!".

Teacher: "take it easy, Rowdy".

Rowdy: " I can pour as much as I want in!!!". (always has get the last word in).

[elliesamericana]

It's great that they are doing this, but will it be enough to actually save this rare species and then successfully reintroduce it back into its environment? Unfortunately, these rescue efforts are usually poorly funded--often only by donations to non-profit organizations. Our governments need to get actively involved in these conservation efforts. By preserving the environment and the things that live in it, we preserve ourselves. I do have some good memories of a government organization doing just this during my Army field training days in Louisiana where we were threatened with court martial if we interfered with the red cockaded woodpecker. I was quite impressed that we were on an Army reservation where this rare bird was protected--and with it the rest of the natural environment. Respectfully, retired US Army field grade officer.

[roger_inkart]

Excellent. I hope they are able to save the species.

These are amphibians being flown off an island by British and Swedish authorities. It has nothing to do with the US. It has nothing to do with Obama. You rightwing tools that try to interject your warped political identities into everything are pathetic beyond words.

[Marie Zarankevich]

Posted by curse914 --
" Since I believe we are the culprits, it would be arrogant to think life will not return when we are nothing but ash. Like the locust swarm we eat everything site, then we eat each other and die. The demise of the Easter Islanders foreshadows our end on a global scale." --

While your scenario could certainly be true, what IF humans are actually responding to a sort of "seasonal shift" in the life cycles of this planet? -- What if this shift would occur even if human beings did not exist? -- Many people seem to be sensing an ending of some sort, and may are suffering from a depressed kind of insanity because of it, but perhaps we misunderstand what we are sensing. -- We could be torturing ourselves over something that happens here on a regular basis, and which nothing can alter. -- Take Global Warming, for example. -- We are blaming ourselves and each other for it, yet scientists recently discovered that Mars is also heating up, making Global Warming a rather moot point. -- Our Sun is behaving strangely. -- I'm pretty sure that human activity did not cause that. -- It might be frightening, but it is not a reason to attack anybody else here, is it? -- Reality simply IS.

[sandy19731]

Why ??? We could use this money for college tuitions for kids who are in need of funds and are poor.
Posted by hamiltongrad

Obama's tax credits will do that.

Saving a species could end up saving us.

If it were up to some Americans all that would be left on this planet is cats, dogs, and people.

[hamiltongrad]

Why ??? We could use this money for college tuitions for kids who are in need of funds and are poor.

[curse914]

Oh really? And here we have scientists flying frogs off an island to save them...

And then we have stupid American liberals murdering their babies by the THOUSANDS!

I guess the only hope that we can have is that soon the honking liberals (commies) will eventually murder themselves off the planet and become extinct.

Posted by Rowdy109 at 7:36 AM : May 9, 2009

Here is a logic problem for you. How do you maintain a perpetual growth based economy on a finite sized planet?

Just answer the question. It should be easy to answer for a mental giant like you. And you can fire away any question you want to me and I will be happen to answer it, once you have answered this preschool question about limits.

[tincup356]

I wonder when American workers will make the endangered species list?...or when politicians who PAY their taxes will make the list?

[curse914]

Between this frog fungus, the "White Nose" bat fungus hitting small brown bats in the USA, and other biological strangeness happening on the Earth right now, I am beginning to wonder if we're looking at some kind of planetary senescence. -- It almost looks like what happens in a garden in anticipation of winter. -- Everything rots and dies down, or lies dormant until the next growing season. -- Maybe planets have their own life cycles? -- Interesting possibility.

Posted by Marie Zarankevich at 7:22 AM : May 9, 2009

Since I believe we are the culprits, it would be arrogant to think life will not return when we are nothing but ash. Like the locust swarm we eat everything site, then we eat each other and die. The demise of the Easter Islanders foreshadows our end on a global scale.