Illustration of a frog.
-
Meigneux / SIPA
Three species of Central American amphibians have gone extinct and many more may become extinct soon.
They were victims of a deadly fungus whose expansion is being favored by climate change, said Thursday the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
These three species - including
Atelopus chiriquiensis
which was found in altitude in Costa Rica and Panama but which has not been seen since 1996 - join 28 other species which have also been added to the extinction section of the IUCN “red list”.
This now lists 128,918 species of plants and animals.
BREAKING NEWS: European bison recovering, 31 species declared Extinct - @IUCNRedList https://t.co/X2zfKqtoiR pic.twitter.com/UU9ZqIH4vR
- IUCN (@IUCN) December 10, 2020
An invasive fungus
Twenty-two other species of amphibians found in Central and South America are on the list of “critically endangered” species, the category that precedes extinction in the IUCN classification.
The person responsible for the massacre has long been identified.
It is a fungus that attacks the skin of frogs, toads and other amphibians and ends up killing them by preventing them from breathing.
The scourge, which strikes dozens of countries around the world, is called
quitridiomicosis
.
"It is an invasive species that strikes a large number of amphibians in different parts of the world: Europe, South America, Asia, Africa," says Craig Hilton-Taylor, in charge of establishing the red list within organisation.
“Climate change seems to help the fungus expand and create the conditions for the disease to thrive, and then it wipes out the frog populations,” he explains, speaking of a “huge crisis” hitting them. amphibians.
Threatened fish and dolphins
Other endangered or already extinct species include 17 kinds of fish that inhabit Lake Lanao in the Philippines.
The culprits are two predatory fish that were accidentally introduced half a century ago.
Today, 15 of the native fish are extirpated and the remaining two are critically endangered or possibly extirpated.
What's more, overfishing, pollution and deforestation have “massively changed” the lake's ecosystem, says Craig Hilton-Taylor.
Among the threatened species is also the tucuxi or Orinoco dolphin.
This mammal, which is found in the Amazon, is endangered because its population is the victim of fishing nets in which they drown, dam installations or even pollution.
These are now the four species of freshwater dolphins that are on the endangered species list, including the baiji or Chinese dolphin that is only found in the Yangtze-Kiang River and of which we even fear. let it be turned off.
The hope of the European bison
However, some points are positive.
Thus, 26 species of the red list are recovering the hair of the beast.
Among them, the European bison, which has just moved from the “almost threatened” category to the “vulnerable” category.
The largest mammal of the Old Continent only survived in captivity before being reintroduced into the wild in the 1950s. Today, intensive efforts have resulted in a population of 1,800 head in 2003 to 6,200. in 2019 with 49 herds in the wild.
“This is great news and shows that conservation efforts can make a difference,” says Craig Hilton-Taylor.
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