Kottigehar dancing frogs are among the most threatened amphibian species. Credit: Gururaja K. V.
A global survey reveals that amphibians, including dancing frogs, endemic to India’s Western Ghats, continue to be the most threatened vertebrates, followed by sharks, mammals, reptiles, and birds1.
Habitat loss, climate change and disease are the major threats to frogs, salamanders and caecilians, according to findings from the second Global Amphibian Assessment. It says two out of every five amphibians face the risk of extinction.
The assessment, by an international research team, evaluated the extinction risk of more than 8,000 amphibian species worldwide, including 2,286 species for the first time.
The team, which included ecologist Gururaja K. V. at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru, found that between 2004 and 2022, critical threats pushed more than 300 amphibians closer to extinction.
Habitat destruction and degradation imperiled 93% of all the amphibian species, whereas climate change affected 39%. These changes may wipe out three out of every five salamander species.
The greatest numbers of threatened species live in the Western Ghats, Sri Lanka, Caribbean islands, the Tropical Andes, the mountains and forests of western Cameroon, eastern Nigeria, and Madagascar.
Map shows the distribution of 2,873 globally threatened amphibian species. The darker colours correspond to higher species richness. Credit: Nature, 622 (2023)
In India, the researchers evaluated 426 amphibian species, of which 136 are threatened, including species of the Micrixalus genus, commonly known as dancing frogs, for their unusual hind leg-waving display. The genus is the fifth most threatened in the world. Two species of these frogs are critically endangered and 15 are threatened.
