While not very beautiful on the surface, the zombie frog is far less dangerous and scary than it looks (and is also endangered).
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himWhile she may not look very pretty, the zombie frog is far less dangerous and scary than it looks. But beware: the climate crisis and deforestation of the region in which it lives, the Amazon, are jeopardizing its survival.
The German herpetologist Raphael Ernest, expert in reptiles and amphibians, has announced the discovery of not one but three new species of amphibians, all belonging to the same family - Synapturanus - in the Amazon rainforest of South America, between Brazil, Guyana and French Guiana. Until now, the existence of frogs in this remote area of the country was unknown. Based on the observations made so far, experts hypothesize the presence of at least 18 other species of the same genus not yet identified.
The most incredible of the three newly discovered species is certainly the 'zombie frog'. It is a bizarre-shaped, orange-skinned and rather sticky animal. Although it is not the habit of its species to hide underground, the 'zombie frog', like the other two newly discovered species, lives right underground, under the foliage of the forest to keep the skin hydrated, and only emerges from the ground when rains.
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Together with the surprise of the discovery and the disbelief in the face of such a bizarre new species, scientists are nevertheless aware that this richness of biodiversity is being lost - and the fault lies with man, of course: for each new species discovered, the researchers they can only imagine how many other species escape our observation and how many of these may disappear from the face of the Earth before we can notice their presence.
(Read also: This "chocolate" frog species has just been discovered and is absolutely adorable)
The Amazon forest, the largest basin of biodiversity in the world, is threatened by climate crisis, deforestation, fires and the exploitation of resources by man, infrastructure projects that do not respect the balance of nature. With its unique microclimate, it is a haven for thousands of amphibian species - including hundreds of frog species, just like the one just identified. Breathing through the skin, amphibians are particularly sensitive to changes in water quality, environmental pollution, the presence of toxic substances, the destruction of the habitat in which they live. In practice, they are a veritable 'litmus test' for understanding the health of the environment, and their dramatic decline (over 70% of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, according to this study) is a bell. alarm that we should not ignore.
@Senckenberg/Hölting
Fonte: Zoological Scoreboard
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