"Amphibian Decline"?

As A kid growing up here in north Texas I can remember catching horntoads to play with, and watching the hundreds of toad frogs at night under street lights eating there fill of june bugs. That was 30 years ago, the horntoads just vanished over night it seems like and I rarely ever see a toad frog anymore.. It's something I really never thought of much, just blamed it on the fire ants that have overtaken this part of the country..

Yesterday I was reading the local newspaper and came across a artical about "Amphibian Decline" then I came home and googled it,, seems like this is world wide and very serius.. So I thought I would post about here cause there are people from all over the world here and see what you guys think.. Have you seen any frogs lately?

If this is true, its not good at all. Frogs are our signs for the earth.

I have heard that once the frogs go, we are not far behind. It has something to do with the food chain. There are many factors that can contribute to this all over the world. The fire ants in you part of town, logging in another part of the world, urban sprawl. Most of the time it all comes down to how we are taking care of our planet, or rather lack of care for our planet. I hope peopls eyes open soon and see the real devistation we truly cause to the eco system before its to late.

Joe,

I read the same thing in my local paper. There was some speculation apparently that a fungus was wiping out amphibian populations worldwide. While there still might be a significant proportion of amphibians affected, there is apparently a comeback happening in Austrailia, where a group of frogs is living with the fungus.

For more info, check out www.jcu.edu.au...

It's the amphibian diseases homepage.

Hey Joe, I know exactly what you mean.... I'm from the North Tx area as well, and haven't seen a single Hornedtoad in at least 15-17 yrs... I'm not sure of what caused their dissaperence, but i do know it's not from fire ants. Ants were a favorite snack of the ones i kept as pets when i was a kid.

And it's not only Hornedtoads that have vanished from the N. Tx area...I haven't seen hardly any fireflies in recent yrs either.. we used to see them in the hundreds all summer long. I can barely remember the last time i've seen any around here...

As for amphibians, the main problem there has to do with their skin... any chemicals or other contaminents are much more easily absorbed thru their skins than that of most other creatures.