Social media has proved to be a helpful source of observations of snakes feeding. Knowing more about their diet is useful because it’s linked to their venom biochemistry.
Anatolian water frogs (Pelophylax spp) could become locally extinct in parts of Turkey due to over-harvesting as food.
Kerim Çiçek
Frogs are harvested as food by the millions every year. A new study shows that uncontrolled frog hunting could drive some populations to extinction by midcentury.
Many frogs, such as the red-eyed tree frog, are sought-after pets.
Andy Morffew/Wikimedia Commons
People sometimes release pets into the wild, resulting in biological invasions.
The horned land frog (Sphenophryne cornuta) carries babies on its back. New Guinea must be protected from the deadly chytrid fungus, or we could see around 100 frog species be wiped out.
The island of New Guinea is home to 6% of the world’s frogs, but if the deadly chytrid fungus invades it could cause a mass extinction.
The Mossy Red-eyed Frog is among hundreds of species threatened with extinction at the hands of chytrid fungus.
Jonathan Kolby/Honduras Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center
Chytrid fungus has caused declines in 501 amphibian species, according to a new analysis. Most of the damage happened in the 1980s, before the fungus itself was even discovered.
Some tropical frogs may be developing resistance to a fungus that has devastated species like Atelopus varius, the variable harlequin frog.
Brian Gratwicke/Wikimedia
New genetic knowledge about cane toads could give us the knowledge we need to throw some more roadblocks in front of this persistent invader as it marches across Australia.
Oophaga andresii is one of the newly described species of Harlequin poison frog.
Jose Andrés
With their jewel-like colours, Colombia’s poison frogs are coveted by collectors. Does naming their species help protect them or make them a target for trophy hunters?
Panamanian golden frogs (Atelopus zeteki) are listed as critically endangered, and may be extinct in the wild.
Jeff Kubina
Chytrid fungus has caused a global “amphibian apocalypse,” killing frogs worldwide. Now some appear to be evolving resistance – but a closely related fungus threatens newts and salamanders.
Rose’s mountain toadlets mate in small puddles. Here is a male with a string of eggs in the water.
Francois Becker
Frogs and toads are declining around the world, with many species on the brink of extinction. Acting in time means trying strategies without complete information about how likely they are to work.
The Painted Reed Frog (Hyperolius marmoratus) in Kenya.
Shutterstock
A recent study shows how the number of vulnerable and endangered amphibians is nearly double that of birds or mammals. Strategies need to be put in place, and fast.
A male Hypsiboas punctatus frog in daylight.
Erfil/Wikimedia
Alexis Noel, Georgia Institute of Technology e David Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology
How do a frog’s tongue and saliva work together to be sticky enough to lift 1.4 times the animal’s body weight? Painstaking lab work found their spit switches between two distinct phases to nab prey.