Costa Rica is Home to Some of the Rarest Frog Species in the World.

In the 1980s, a horrible fungus began to affect the world’s amphibian population, preventing them from breathing through their skin, essentially suffocating the animals. As it spread, the Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus threatened more than one-third of the world’s amphibian population with extinction, and experts report that 120 species have become extinct within the last 25 years. Now, experts from the United Kingdom’s Manchester University and Chester Zoo will Travel to Costa Rica, to search for and help several endangered species.

The chytrid fungus is very common throughout the Central American mountainous regions, and the region’s amphibians have been particularly hard hit. Indeed, “Costa Rica’s highlands used to be major biodiversity hotspots – but in many areas, amphibian populations have been completely decimated,” Andrew Gray, Manchester Museum amphibian expert, commented. His work, along with that of several others, strives to find remaining frog species, and help them survive extinction.

Together with the Costa Rican authorities, Gray has been working to create additional protections in areas where highly endangered amphibian species are found. In 2007, for example, Gray spotted a Ithsmohyla rivularis frog, a species believed to have been extinct for over 20 years. The sighting was a sign of hope for the world’s frog population, indicating that not all is lost. “To find this species last year that was thought to have become extinct at the same time as the golden toad was incredible – it’s the rarest tree frog in the world,” Gray continued.

The aforementioned golden toad (Bufo pereglines), discovered in 1966, disappeared from human sight in 1989, and has not been seen since. Despite such troubling statistics, the golden toad used to thrive in the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and so the Manchester Museum/Chester Zoo team are headed there to scour the forest for signs of its survival. Sadly though, it is a very slim possibility, and one of the world’s most colorful and unique toads may be lost forever.

In more encouraging news, several of Costa Rica’s frogs have been able to repel the chytrid fungus, and have continued to flourish in the country’s highlands. Their survival is the result of a special pigment in their skin – in opposition to most frogs’ limitations, these amphibians are able to lay out in the sun without drying out. Scientists believe that this ability, in addition to making these amphibians unique, has allowed them to heat the fungus up enough to kill it off slowly. Instead of increasing in strength and taking hold of its host, the chytrid doesn’t have the chance to take hold and kill the small animals.

The work of scientists like Gray show hope and a bright future for the world’s remaining amphibians. Together, they will search the globe for surviving specimens, and with each governments’ permissions, plan to take individuals home, for further study and protections. In this search, Costa Rica, where 25% of its bio-rich lands are already protected, has proven to be an excellent partner, and hope remains that its sheltered forests will someday reveal many of the world’s lost amphibian species.

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Filed under: Costa Rican Wildlife on September 1st, 2008