Category Archives: habitat loss

01/26/10

Yasuni National Park, Ecuador: An Amphibian Eden

Yasuni National Park

Yasuni National Park, courtesy UTNE.com

Scientists have recently identified Yasuni National Park in Ecuador as one of the most biologically diverse places in South America, and perhaps on earth. As Shawn McCracken of Texas State University—San Marcos, recently said, “The 150 amphibian species throughout Yasuni is a world record for an area this size. There are more species of frogs and toads within Yasuni than are native to the United States and Canada combined.”

Unfortunately this Eden sits on oil reserves and is threatened by proposed oil development projects. McCracken and other scientists from Ecuador, the United States, and Europe have proposed a moratorium on new oil exploration until the effects of such projects can be explored.

Reading about this, we couldn’t help but think about the movie Avatar and the attempted destruction of the planet Pandora to mine unobtanium. Unfortunately, we humans aren’t as wise as the Na’vi—yet. Let’s hope that Ecuador will preserve this incredible pocket of biodiversity and not be so shortsighted as to destroy parts of it for oil.

Here is more information from Save the Frogs and the Environmental News Service.

09/18/09

A Place in the Choir for the Houston Toad

Maybe it’s because my choir rehearsals begin tonight, but I was intrigued by this story about the Houston Toad—the star soprano in the frog chorus. Here’s some information about the toad from The Dallas Morning News:

In the nightly pondside chorus, the Houston toad sings soprano. Its clear, high cry, lasting as long as 14 seconds, trills above the basso profundo grunts of the less gifted. It’s a remarkable performance. But to hear it, you’ll need to travel as far as Bastrop County.

Unfortunately habitat loss and drought have driven this toad to the brink of extinction. It hasn’t been seen in the Houston area for 50 years, and is now found only in a small area of Bastrop County, Texas. In an effort to increase the numbers of the endangered toad, 5000 baby toads, raised from eggs at a Houston Zoo nursery, were released into the wild. Texas State University, the Houston Zoo, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Environmental Defense Fund, and private landowners are all working together save the Houston Toad.

I found a YouTube video so that I could hear the Houston toad sing. It’s ten minutes long, but I found it so inspiring to see how people are working to save this toad. It ends with a hopeful love scene—you’ll have to watch it to see what I mean!