Beyond the Lily Pad

Frog music is the final crescendo each evening after the afternoon thunderstorms during the summer Andros and in South Georgia. Even though at times it may seem hard to believe these croaking amphibians are disappearing and more become endangered every day. There are some places where scientists are looking and planning to save these iconic summer songsters for future generations. The government of Ecuador started a project in 2005 that has been and will continue to be successful in saving species from all over the world. Don’t jump to conclusions about some vast expansive land mass full of creatures, it is actually a lab. It is specifically for frogs. There’s a disease out there called Chytrid disease and it is spread by a fungus among us. It is in the process of wiping out hundreds of species of frogs. Ecuador recognizing the impact this is having built Balsa de los Sapos – the life raft of the frogs.  Scientists collect frogs, all the different species they can find, and put them in these temperature-controlled, fungus free “rafts” or containers, feeding them and maintaining them in these environments until they die and then when they die, store their DNA. The hope is that perhaps one day with the cloning techniques becoming more advanced, they’ll be able to reintroduce the species back into the world. Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad idea and may be the springboard of an idea for at least saving some of the other types of species of animals and fish and birds that are on the rapid decline in the world. Perhaps to rejuvenate a species in the future, we’re only a clone call away.