Disappearing bees, bats, frogs and bears, oh my!

If you don’t care about bats and bees disappearing, you probably don’t care about frogs disappearing, either. You should.

Frogs are the most threatened group of animals on Earth. There are about 6500 known amphibious species. Nearly 1 in 3 are threatened with extinction. 150 species of amphibians have completely disappeared in recent decades. According to one scientific report that studied the disappearance of two species in Central America, the Monteverde harlequin frog and the golden toad, they along with nearly a hundred other species of amphibians went extinct in the last decade due to climate change. I know, there are still people who think Global Warming is not real, but these scientists said “Analysing the timing of losses in relation to changes in sea surface and air temperatures, we conclude with `very high confidence' (> 99%, following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) that large-scale warming is a key factor in the disappearances. We propose that temperatures at many highland localities are shifting towards the growth optimum of Batrachochytrium, thus encouraging outbreaks.” In other words, warmer air, soil, and water temperatures are more favorable to a fungus that kills the frogs.

“So What,” you may say. “I ate frogs once, that was enough. And I never eat bats or bees. What do I care if they all go away?”

Aside from the dubious value of providing a tasty meal, frogs perform many other valuable services. According to savethefrogs.com, “Tadpoles keep waterways clean by feeding on algae. Adult frogs eat large quantities of insects, including disease vectors that can transmit fatal illnesses to humans (i.e. mosquitoes/malaria). Frogs also serve as an important food source to a diverse array of predators, including dragonflies, fish, snakes, birds and even monkeys. Thus, the disappearance of frog populations disturbs an intricate food web, and results in negative impacts that cascade through the ecosystem.”

And it isn't just the controversial Global Warming that's killing them. Contrary to the old erotesis (“Is the pope catholic? Is a bullfrog waterproof?”) frogs have permeable skin and do absorb water - along with any toxins the water contains. Hence, whether you believe Global Warming is real or a hoax, the  disappearance of frogs is the ‘canary in the coal mine’ telling us the environment is becoming severely unhealthy.

Evolutionists believe frogs have been here, pretty much unchanged, for 250 million years so you’d think they would be worried that the environment has killed off 1/3 of them in just a few years. Or perhaps they fatalistically apply their ‘survival of the fittest’ doctrine to themselves and are ready to exit. Since mankind hasn’t evolved to the point where we can drink poisoned water, they should be concerned.

As with bats, bees, and all other creatures, the lower on the food chain, the more critical to the survival of the human race. Endangered Polar bears, seals and sea lions may be sexier causes, but their extinction will have less impact on humans than that of frogs, bats, and bees.

Photo courtesy Ren West