Exploding Frogs

[onedomino]

Scientists are baffled why frogs are exploding in northern Germany. If this problem spreads to France, the results would be catastrophic.

Mystery of German Exploding Toads

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4486247.stm

Toads in an area of northern Germany are being killed off by a mysterious disease - they are exploding.

Thousands of the amphibians have died in recent days in a pond in Hamburg's Altona district, with their bodies swelling to bursting point.

The toads' entrails are propelled for up to a metre (3.2ft), in scenes that have been likened to science fiction.

Scientists are baffled. Possible explanations include a unknown virus or a fungus in the pond.

"You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding," German conservationist Werner Smolnik told AFP news agency.

The bodies of the toads expanded to three and a half times their normal size, he said.

"I have never seen such a thing," AFP quotes veterinarian Otto Horst as saying. The site - which has been dubbed "the pond of death" - has been closed to the public.

The exploding toads have also crossed the border north into Denmark, according to Danish Radio.

It reported that a large number of toads that live in a pond near Laasby in central Jutland have started to suffer the same fate as the German amphibians.

The toads crawl onto the land, swell up and explode in the middle of the night, the radio said.

 

[JOKER96BRAVO]

I saw this as a child...
'cept we used fireworks!

 

[Said1]

Scientists are baffled why frogs are exploding in northern Germany. If this problem spreads to France, the results would be catastrophic.

With all due respect OD, but you do see the humor in that statement, right? Poor PE, I hope he heads for the english.

 

[5stringJeff]

The site - which has been dubbed "the pond of death" - has been closed to the public.

Am I the only Eddie Izard fan going hysterical over this sentence?!? :rotflmao:

 

[insein]

Am I the only Eddie Izard fan going hysterical over this sentence?!? :rotflmao:

I love Eddie Izzard. Cake or death? Oh cake please.

 

[5stringJeff]

I love Eddie Izzard. Cake or death? Oh cake please.

No, no, you said death!!!

Oh, all right. You're lucky we're Church of England!

 

[waltky]

Save the frogs!...

Scientists find new weapon in fight against deadly amphibian fungus
Tuesday 1st March, 2016 - Washing infected frogs in an anti-fungal drug bath reduced mortality rate and extended lifespan of population, and could buy valuable time to save species from extinction, research shows

Scientists have for the first time found a successful short-term treatment for amphibians infected with a deadly fungus in the wild. Although the treatment would not save them from being reinfected and dying at a later date, it could “greatly extend” the time needed to save an amphibian population from extinction in the face of epidemic disease, according to the study led by scientists from the Zoological Society of London and published in the journal Biological Conservation.

A team of researchers on a last-ditch mission to save the critically endangered mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) from extinction on Montserrat found that washing amphibians affected with chytridiomycosis in an anti-fungal bath reduced the mortality rate and extended the lifespan of the population by more than a year.

In early 2009, a global pandemic ravaging amphibian populations worldwide and caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis reached Montserrat and reduced the population of tens of thousands to around 200 within months. In August the same year, scientists tried to save the last few hundred frogs - which are found only on the islands of Dominica and Montserrat - at their last remaining site in a ravine.

Over 16 weeks, the team treated 80 frogs individually for five minutes at a time by washing them in a bag containing the anti-fungal drug itraconazole. Another group was washed with only water and another left untreated. The scientists were in the middle of assessing the impact of the treatment when the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted and the team was evacuated. When they returned, only two frogs were found to be remaining.

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