We will no longer be able to see the beautiful and unique golden toad (Bufo periglenes).
It was once abundant in the Monteverde cloud forest, a Costa Rica region where it was endemic (it only existed there), but no one has seen one since 1989, being therefore listed as an extinct species.
Scientists believe that the golden toad was driven to extinction by global warming.
Monteverde is a cloud forest, and the whole ecosystem depends on frequent formation of clouds and mist. The mist frequency has declined dramatically because of the warming of the oceans and the atmosphere.
The rise in temperatures and higher mist formation in the forest have also triggered disease outbreaks (such as the chytrid fungi) that infects the moist skins of frogs, toads and salamanders.
The golden toad is just one species among thousands that go extinct every year.
Biodiversity is being irreversibly destroyed by human activities at an unprecedented rate. Scientists estimate there are 10 to 30 million plant and animal species on the planet, most of them unidentified. Each year at least 50,000 species disappear.
Many scientists have argued that the current rate of extinction is approaching to when a gigantic meteorite struck the earth 65 million years ago, causing a dramatic climate change that led to mass extinction.
Frogs, toads and in gerenal all amphibians are extremely sensitive indicators of environmental changes, as the uptake of oxygen and water through their skin can increase concentrations of pollutants.
They are so sensitive to changes in the environment that scientists have compared them to a canary in a coal mine.
In coal mines a poisonous coal gas is released from the earth during mining operations, which is a risk to the workers.
Coal miners used canaries to warn the miners of imminent danger since canaries are more sensitive to toxic fumes and will die of exposure before a human. If the canary that they carried in the cage died, it meant that it was time to get out!
And this is exactly what many species like the golden toad are trying to tell us, it’s time to stop!!
Time to stop polluting our environment and change our unsustainable life style.
Not only the survival of millions of animal and plant species are at stake, but also life for humans on earth.
Let’s listen to the golden toad and change before its too late.
EcoToaD 