Why frogs are important
"And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of a whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night?"
Chief Seattle - 1854
Frogs are the most threatened group of animals on Earth. Nearly one-third of the world’s 6,485 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, and at least 150 species have already completely disappeared in recent decades. Unless we act quickly, frog species will continue to disappear, resulting in irreversible consequences to Earth’s ecosystems and to humans.
Frogs are an integral part of the food web
Tadpoles keep waterways clean by feeding on algae. Adult frogs eat large quantities of insects, including disease vectors that can transmit fatal illnesses to humans (i.e. mosquitoes/malaria). Frogs also serve as an important food source to a diverse array of predators, including dragonflies, fish, snakes, birds and even monkeys. Thus, the disappearance of frog populations disturbs an intricate food web, and results in negative impacts that cascade through the ecosystem.
Frogs are bioindicators
Most frogs require suitable habitat in both the terrestrial and aquatic environments, and have permeable skin that can easily absorb toxic chemicals. These traits make frogs especially susceptible to environmental disturbances, and thus frogs are considered accurate indicators of environmental stress: the health of frogs is thought to be indicative of the health of the biosphere as a whole. Frogs have survived in more or less their current form for 250 million years, having survived countless ice ages, asteroid crashes, and other environmental disturbances, yet now one-third of amphibian species are on the verge of extinction. This should serve as an alarm call to humans that something is drastically wrong in the environment.
Humans use frogs in medicinal research
Frogs produce a wide array of skin secretions, many of which have significant potential to improve human health through their use as pharmaceuticals. Approximately 10% of Nobel Prizes in Physiology and Medicine have resulted from investigations that used frogs. When a frog species disappears, so does any promise it holds for improving human medicine.
Frogs are cool!
Frogs provide a source of enjoyment and cultural fascination to humans and it would be morally irresponsible to allow them to continue on their current extinction trajectory. Check out our Cool Frog Facts page.
Summary
Frogs are cool and we need them! They need our help too, so let’s SAVE THE FROGS!
"You must have certain noble areas of the world left in as close-to-primal condition as possible. You must have quietness and a certain amount of solitude. You must be able to touch the living rock, drink the pure waters, scan the great vistas, sleep under the stars and awaken to the cool dawn wind. Such experiences are the heritage of all people".
Ansel Adams, 1961
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