Many thanks to my great friend Prof. Alessandro Catenazzi and his team, to Rudolf Von May, Kelsey Reider, Prof. Maureen A. Donnelly, Nigel and Renata Pitman and all the crew of the CICRA Los Amigos biological station in the Peruvian Amazon. Great THANKS also goes to the crew in Wayqecha Biological Station, to Robinson Palomino Paz and all the ACCA’s crew in Cusco. This work could not be done without the help and support of the Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) and its Peruvian sister, the Asociación para la Conservación de la Cuenca Amazónica (ACCA). I also would like to deeply thank the Italian Institute of Culture in Lima for supporting my work with the exposition “Micromundos” that’s now touring around in Peru.

Saving frogs: a tale from Peru, with a global taste

Amphibians are disappearing around the globe. They are under pressure because of habitat loss, climate change and the deadly chytrid fungus. Scientists are trying to stop “the new extinction” by trying to understand how these phenomena negatively interact with frogs, toads and salamanders.

Amphibians first emerged onto land approximately 400 million years ago and thrived in a hospitable environment, quickly achieving large body sizes and ascending to the top of the food chain for roughly 100 million years. Towards the end of the Permian period, early crocodile-like species began to compete with amphibians for both food and habitat. This competition led to the miniaturization of amphibians and their migration to colder regions where crocodiles could not survive due to their inability to hibernate.

Throughout their evolutionary history, amphibians have adapted to various habitats across the globe, excluding the more extreme parts of polar regions, by enhancing their skin with toxins and antimicrobial substances. Currently, they are experiencing one of their most challenging periods, with hundreds of species facing extinction or already extinct primarily due to habitat loss and emerging diseases. The human species is likely the main contributor to this decline, causing climate changes, habitat destruction, and facilitating the spread of the chytrid fungus, which leads to lethal heart attacks in infected animals. This disease has a uniform genetic code worldwide, indicating rapid propagation facilitated by humans.
Approximately 70% of Atelopus toads in South America are either extinct or on the brink of extinction, with other species such as Telmatobius frogs facing similar threats. Agalychnis lemur, known as the Lemur Leaf frog, is disappearing from many locations, with higher altitude populations already extinct.

The Peruvian Amazon is a biodiversity hotspot, particularly within the cloud forests and lush lowlands. In regions like Manu National Park and Madre de Dios, researchers, including Alessandro Catenazzi’s team, are working to preserve amphibian populations by comparing historical data with current field data to assess the impact of the chytrid fungus. Despite some negative findings, new species are discovered annually, and certain amphibian populations remain healthy in parts of their habitat while the disease is confined to montane areas. Some species previously thought to be extinct have been rediscovered, akin to “Lazarus of biodiversity” re-emerging from obscurity.
Many factors still require investigation, and there is hope that researchers will uncover the remaining mysteries associated with this significant and rapid mass extinction we are currently witnessing.