Species Extinct After Rare Tree Frog Dies

The last tree frog died in Atlanta.

According to the Atlanta Botanical Garden officials, a rare tree frog died in captivity. That was the last known living member of the species, so it is possible that tree frogs are gone forever. The animal was found dead during a routine inspection on Monday. It was called Toughie, by the workers at the garden. It seems that the frog was 12 years old when it died.

It all started in 2005 when the Atlanta Botanic Garden and Zoo Atlanta decided to sent researchers to Panama. Their mission was to collect all the live animals in an area that was in danger. They found a lot of animals and among them it was a species of tree frogs that they have never seen before. The chytrid disease killed most of the frogs left in Panama.

The botanic garden bought a climate-controlled house where the tree frog was able to live all these years. That is the place where the tree frog spent its last eight years. Now that it died, its species could be extinct. It was a good opportunity for scientists to learn more things about a rare species and be able to gather more information before the disease came. Unfortunately, the scientists estimate that one-third of the amphibian species around the world are endangered.

Nobody has seen a tree frog in the wild since the researchers saved Toughie. Even though there could be some individuals which managed to live, it would be hard for us to find out. There are so many animals that are threatened and they could also be gone in a few years.

There are many reasons why this is happening. First of all, there are human activities. Cities are expanding, forests are cut and many animals’ habitats are in danger. While some manage to find other places to live, most of them are killed by people who claim that the animals are on their properties. It is not a surprise that human is the most dangerous enemy other species living on Earth can have.

Moreover, there are also diseases that lead to outbreaks. Thousands of animals die because they are infected with bacteria and there is nothing to do about it. While people are building more houses and factories, other species try to survive in a world that has become too dangerous for them.

Image source: Wikipedia

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Nancy Young

When I was younger I used to spend almost all of my free time playing computer games. My mom and dad would go mental over this. “You’re never going to do anything with your life if you are going to play games all day” they used to say. What was even more unusual was the fact that I played more games than most of the guys in my friend group. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably played a bit too much, but I also learned a lot of great things. When I turned 20 I decided that it was high-time to make some money of my own, but the only jobs I could get were that of waitress or cashier. How exciting. After several excruciating months of serving tables I had a great idea: since I love gaming so much, why don’t I write about it? That’s when I started doing small writing projects on Elance. Eventually, I got an offer for a part-time job. During that time I learned all about content marketing strategies and how search engines work. I started writing about various topics such as technology, health and lifestyle and discovered that I was actually good at it. On November 24, 2014, I became part of the ArgyllFreePress team.