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Panamanian golden frog waves goodbye to the wild

Posted Feb 03, 2008 at 10:35AM by Glen D. Listed in: Animals and Wildlife, Biology Tags: Fortune, BBC
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Golden frog - Image 1


A rare footage of the almost-extinct Panamanian golden frog is to be shown soon in a BBC documentary titled "Life in Cold Blood". It features the specie's strange new behavior as well as its final moments in the wild.

The extremely toxic golden frog has started dying off in Panama's forests during the recent years. If you think human activity is to blame, you may be surprised that it isn't.

The biggest threat to golden frogs is the spread of the chytrid fungus in its habitat. Although harmless to most plants and animals, this fungus sticks and grows on the skin of the golden frog, covering the pores that allow it to breathe, resulting in agonizing suffocation fatalities.

What makes the golden frog unique other than its color is its strange "waving" behavior. It performs the gesture during the mating season when the environment gets a bit too loud for croaking to attract mates.  The waving motions also serve as a warning to ward off rivals of the same gender.

Panamanian natives revere the frog and surround it with legend. Some believe that the mere sight of it is an omen of good fortune. Others say that its body turns into solid gold after it dies.

There have been no more sightings of the golden frog in the wild for some time now, but a small population is being kept in captivity for breeding and protection by wildlife conservation groups.

[Via BBC] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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