Posted on 01/25/2008 4:01:13 PM PST by blam
EDGE Amphibians: World's Weirdest Creatures Just Got Weirder
The Chinese giant salamander can grow up to 1.8m in length and evolved independently from all other amphibians over one hundred million years before Tyrannosaurus rex. (Credit: Image courtesy of Zoological Society of London)
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2008) — A gigantic, ancient relative of the newt, a drawing-pin sized frog, a limbless, tentacled amphibian and a blind see-through salamander have all made it onto a list of the world’s weirdest and most endangered creatures.
ZSL EDGE programme is highlighting some of the world’s most extraordinary creatures currently threatened with extinction. This year ZSL scientists have assessed all amphibian species according to how Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) they are.
“The EDGE amphibians are amongst the most remarkable and unusual species on the planet and yet an alarming 85% of the top 100 are receiving little or no conservation attention and will become extinct if action is not taken now.” Helen Meredith, EDGE Amphibians coordinator, commented. “These animals may not be cute and cuddly, but hopefully their weird looks and bizarre behaviours will inspire people to support their conservation.”
ZSL has identified and is starting work to protect ten of the most unusual and threatened EDGE amphibian species this year, including:
1. Chinese giant salamander (salamander that can grow up to 1.8m in length and evolved independently from all other amphibians over one hundred million years before Tyrannosaurus rex)
2. Sagalla caecilian (limbless amphibian with sensory tentacles on the sides of its head)
3. Purple frog (purple-pigmented frog that was only discovered in 2003 because it spends most of the year buried up to 4m underground)
4. Ghost frogs of South Africa (one species is found only in the traditional human burial grounds of Skeleton Gorge in Table Mountain, South Africa)
5. Olm (blind salamander with transparent skin that lives underground, hunts for its prey by smell and electrosensitivity and can survive without food for 10 years)
6. Lungless salamanders of Mexico (highly endangered salamanders that do not have lungs but instead breathe through their skin and mouth lining)
7. Malagasy rainbow frog (highly-decorated frog that inflates itself when under threat and can climb vertical rock surfaces)
8. Chile Darwin’s frog (a frog where fathers protect the young in their mouths, this species has not been officially seen since around 1980 and may now be extinct)
9. Betic midwife toad (toads that evolved from all others over 150million years ago – the males carry the fertilised eggs wrapped around their hind legs)
Dr Jonathan Baillie, Head of the EDGE programme, commented, “Tragically, amphibians tend to be the overlooked members of the animal kingdom, even though one in every three amphibian species is currently threatened with extinction, a far higher proportion than that of bird or mammal species. These species are the “canaries in the coalmine” – they are highly sensitive to factors such as climate change and pollution, which lead to extinction, and are a stark warning of things to come. If we lose them, other species will inevitably follow. The EDGE programme strives to protect the world’s forgotten species and ensure that the weirdest species survive the current extinction crisis and astound future generations with their extraordinary uniqueness.”
EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) animals are those with few close relatives and are highly distinct genetically. These animals are also extremely endangered and desperately in need of immediate action to save them from becoming extinct. By mathematically combining a measure of each species’ unique evolutionary history with its threat of extinction, the scientists are able to give species an EDGE value and rank them accordingly. In January 2007, the EDGE team assessed all mammal species and released the list of the top 100 EDGE mammal species. The scientists have now done the same for all amphibian species (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) and have found that 85 of the top 100 are receiving little or no conservation attention.
Amphibians are declining as a result of a range threats including habitat destruction, pollution, climate change and disease. Scientists at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) are currently researching the diseases affecting amphibians, with particular focus on the chytrid fungus, which is implicated in mass mortality events globally.
Adapted from materials provided by Zoological Society of London.
Dude, you know that one pictured is ALREADY lunch.
Look, it’s from China. It looks like a Chinese chef has a holt of it and they’re already in the kitchen. Is that a wok handle I see in the back ground?
That salamander made a lot of chop suey. Or Kung Po Salamader, or Schezuan salamander, or, well, you know!
They probably taste horrible; otherwise, the Chinese would have eaten them into extinction by now!
You catch it, kill it and I’ll grill it!
LOL! That's great!
I wouldn’t infer anything of the sort.
Its not about what, but how and why. I’d like to ask about those things someday.
“90% of the species that ever lived are gone without leaving their gene info. Maybe even more. It’s a good thing. But also, 99% of their gene info is still here in the still living species.”
Not the point. These are nifty critters and at least one of my granddkids, no, make that two, would get a real kick out of seeing them. I suspect the same is true for others.
It’s exactly the opposite. There is an enormous amount of circumstantial evidence and a logical explanation for interspecies evolution but only very remote hearsay evidence that anyone was ever raised from the dead.
Can you make sushi out of it? That there would make a lot of rolls. Pass the wasabi!
Oh big deal! Politicians can talk through their butts, and smile at the same time! Is that a form of ventriloquism?
Personally, I'd rather listen to a turtle breathe through its butt.
Lol!
I think I ate one of those things last time I travelled to China for business....
This proves that environmentalism is too dominated by women. Guys should have an environmental organization that takes care of ugly, slimey, deformed looking, odd, poisonous, dangerous, violent, and creepy stuff. If we don’t take care of these things, how will future generations of boys gross out of the future generations of girls?
The first scene has all these frogs, snakes, and lizards descending on a house. Next it shows a lady inside the house with all these creatures staring in the window at her. At that point, a voice comes on and says, "You know, you should come to the zoo and see them. You really should."
The scene switches to outside the house - you hear a SCREAM! - then the voice says, "because if you don't come to see them, they'll come to see you."
Hmmm... they’re cool and interesting and it’s difficult to believe that they just “happened”. On the other hand I believe extinction is the rule, the climate always changes and global warming is a socialist scheme that may well do what lenin and osama couldn’t.
I make a nice snail-darter sauce, using a generous amount of snail-darters, butter, garlic and some herbs.
This sauce is particularly good on grilled spotted owl breasts and is also quite tasty with a nice, juicy manatee steak.
I used to fry the smelts when we ran out of tuna.
Evidently, I’m not as accomplished a cook as yourself.
;o)
Ooops! My bad! I thought this was a thread about John McCain.
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