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BY JENNIFER S. HOLLAND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOEL SARTORE

138 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • APRIL 2009

SURO STREAM FROG • Hyloscirtus pantostictus At Pontificia Universidad CatOka del Ecuador UP TO 2.5 INCHES • SOUTH AMERICA • ENDANGERED

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E GRIPS HIS MATE, front legs clasped Egyptians they symbolized life and fertility; tight around her torso. Splayed beneath and for children through the ages they have H him like an open hand, she lies with been a slippery introduction to the natural her egg-heavy belly soaking in the shallow world. To scientists they represent an order that stream. They are harlequin frogs of a rare Ate- has weathered over 300 million years to evolve lopus species, still unnamed and known only in into more than 6,000 singular species, as beauti- a thin wedge of the Andean foothills and adja- ful, diverse—and imperiled—as anything that cent Amazonian lowlands. The female appears walks, or hops, the Earth. freshly painted—a black motif on yellow, her Amphibians are among the groups hardest underside shocking red. She is also dead. hit by todays many strikes against wildlife. As Above this tableau, at the lip of the ravine, a many as half of all species are under threat. bulldozer idles. Road construction here, near the Hundreds are sliding toward extinction, and town of LimOn in southeastern Ecuador, has sent dozens are already lost. The declines are rapid an avalanche of rocks, broken branches, and dirt and widespread, and their causes complex— down the hillside, choking part of the forest-lined even at the ravine near LimOn the bulldozer is stream. Luis Coloma steps gingerly over the loose just one hazard of many. But there are glimmers rocks, inspecting the damage to the waterway. of hope. Rescue efforts now under way will shel- The 47-year-old herpetologist is bespectacled ter some animals until the storm of extinction and compact in a yellow shirt dotted with tiny passes. And, at least in the lab, scientists have embroidered frogs. He hasnt bothered to roll up treated frogs for a fungal disease that is devas- his khaki pants, which are soaked to the knees. tating populations around the world. Poking a stick into the debris, he says, "They have In Quito, Coloma and his colleague Santiago destroyed the house of the frog." Ron have established a captive-breeding facil- Frogs and toads, salamanders and newts, ity for amphibians at the zoological museum wormlike (and little-known) caecilians—these at Pontificia Universidad CatOlica del Ecuador. are the class Amphibia: cold-blooded, creep- They admit its a drop in the pond, offering safe ing, hopping, burrowing creatures of fairy tale, harbor to a select few in hopes of stemming biblical plague, proverb, and witchcraft. Medi- national losses. The facility houses just 16 spe- eval Europe saw frogs as the devil; for ancient cies, although Ecuador is home to more than 470. And thats just whats on the books. Despite Jennifer S. Holland is a senior writer for National heavy deforestation across this country, every Geographic. Joel Sartore is a frequent contributor to year new species are discovered. Colomas lab the magazine, often photographing threatened species. has about 60 recently discovered species still

BOREAL TOAD COMMON FIRE SALAMANDER Anaxyrus (Bufo) boreas Salamandra salamandra At the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado At the St. Louis Zoo, Missouri UP TO 5 INCHES . WESTERN UNITED STATES . DECLINING UP TO 10 INCHES • EUROPE • DECLINING r. g Scientists in Ecuadors Andes test an Atelopus frog for chytrid fungus (result: positive). The frogs breeding stream was clogged with construction debris. Forest clearing, aridity, and infectious disease are proving a lethal mix for a host of species in the amphibian-rich Southern Hemisphere. b 11

OOPHAGA SYLVATICA PRISTIMANTIS SP. GOLDEN POISON FROG At Pontificia Universidad Catdlica del Ecuador At Reserve Las Gralarias, Ecuador Phyllobates terribilis UP TO 1.5 INCHES • SOUTH AMERICA . DECLINING UP TO 2 INCHES • ECUADOR STATUS UNKNOWN At Rolling Hills Zoo, Salina, Kansas UP TO 2 INCHES • COLOMBIA • ENDANGERED By 2000, teams were grabbing up animals to stash them away— at zoos, at hotels, anywhere space could be carved out.

awaiting scientific names—enough to keep ten the LimOn stream. Both animals tested posi- taxonomists hard at work for a decade. tive for chytrid fungus, and the male died soon Coloma and Ron, who have also initiated after the female. land purchases for habitat protection, hope to Chytrid was wiping out amphibians in Costa add room at the captive facility for more than a Rica back in the 1980s, although no one knew hundred species. But the pool of wild animals is it at the time. When frogs started dying in big shrinking fast. Where field scientists once had to numbers in Australia and Central America in watch their step to avoid crushing frogs moving the mid-1990s, scientists discovered the fungus in mass migrations, now counting a dozen feels was to blame. It attacks keratin, a key structural like a victory. "Were becoming paleontologists, protein in an animals skin and mouthparts, per- describing things that are already extinct: Ron haps hampering oxygen exchange and control says. At the Quito lab the evidence is stacked of water and salts in the body. African clawed

The protein keratin is the target of chytrid fungus. Frogs have more of it than tadpoles, making them more vulnerable to infection. O Keratin

high. Coloma holds up one jar from a cabinet- frogs, exported widely for pregnancy tests ful. Two pale specimens bob in alcohol. "This beginning in the 1930s, may have been the species," he says, his face distorted through the initial carriers of the fungus. "Its amazing we glass, "went extinct in my hands." havent seen even more population crashes, the way we shuffle things all over the world, ITS NO WONDER some view our time on Earth complete with pathogens," notes Ross Alford of as a mass extinction. Biodiversity losses today Queenslands James Cook University. have reached levels not seen since the end of Chytrid is now reported on all continents the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago. where frogs live—in 43 countries and 36 U.S. Yet amphibians were able to hold on through states. It survives at elevations from sea level to past extinction spasms, surviving even when 20,000 feet and kills animals that are aquatic, 95 percent of other animals died out, and land-loving, and those that jump the line. later when the dinosaurs disappeared. If not Locally it may be spread by anything from a then, why now? frogs legs to a birds feathers to a hikers muddy "Todays amphibians have taken not just boots, and it has afflicted at least 200 species. a one-two punch, but a one-two-three-four Gone from the wild are the Costa Rican golden punch. Its death by a thousand cuts," says Uni- toad, the Panamanian golden frog, the Wyoming versity of California, Berkeley, biologist David toad, and the Australian gastric-brooding Wake. Habitat destruction, the introduction of frog, to name a few. Some scientists play down exotic species, commercial exploitation, and the importance of any single factor in over- water pollution are working in concert to deci- all declines. But in a 2007 paper, Australian mate the worlds amphibians. The role of climate researcher Lee Berger and colleagues, who first change is still under debate, but in parts of the laid blame on the fungus, put it this way: "The Andes, scientists have recorded a sharp increase impact of chytridiomycosis on frogs is the most in temperatures over the past 25 years along spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to with unusual bouts of dryness. disease in recorded history" But a form of fungal infection, chytridio- Its been a time of desperate measures. For mycosis (chytrid for short), often administers example, after Southern Illinois University the coup de grace. It did for the mating pair in researcher Karen Lips and colleagues reported

MARIEL FURLONG, NG STAFF. SOURCES: LEE BERGER AND RICK SPEARE, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY

si- fungus-related declines in Costa Rica and venture aimed at keeping at least 500 species on Panama in the late 1990s, they began mapping in captivity for reintroduction when—if—the chytrids path and predicting its victims. By crisis is resolved. But the task is immense and sta 2000, teams were grabbing up animals from the expensive, and theres no guarantee how many ew most vulnerable species to stash them away—at healthy wild places will be left for amphibians big zoos, at hotels, anywhere temporary space could to recolonize. in be carved out for stacks of aquariums. Sick ;US frogs were treated and quarantined. Many were THE TROPICS, where conditions foster high tral exported (with much political wrangling) to amphibian biodiversity, have seen the most per- U.S. zoos, while a Panamanian facility was built dramatic declines. But more temperate climates trol to house nearly a thousand animals. So began havent been spared. Consider the cold, upper ved the Amphibian Ark, a growing international reaches of the Sierra Nevada of California. Here,

NORTH • AMERICA • EUROPE ests Chytrid on the March ASIA the Global data reveal the alarming reach . of amphibian chytridiomycosis, first we AFRICA reported in the wild in Australia, but Area w • hes, likely originating in Africa. Enlarged trld, .1, SOUTH -d of AMERICA • jr AUSTRALIA ents . Igr 4 • U.S. • Chytrid sampling sites as of 2008. el to Surveys in Asia are under way. 4.•`• NICARAGUA 0 Positive Latic, O Negative line.

)m a 1987 COSTA o .- uddy .• tcies. RICA .•.0 Caribbean Aden do 1993 ming Sea 2006 ding Ilk1996 PANAMA 2004 C,AtIAL own 2002 over- • Panama alian In Central America (above) the City Cope 3 first fungus has moved like a wave—spreading up to 27 miles PANAMA "The a year. In 2008 it jumped the most Panama Canal, putting that lue to countrys eastern amphibian PACIFIC populations in the line of fire. OCEAN s. For NGM MAPS ersity CENTRAL AMERICA DATA: KAREN R. LIPS, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY. mi 100 CHYTRID SAMPLING DATA, DEANNA H. OLSON AND KATHRYN L. RONNENBERG, )orted U.S. FOREST SERVICE; MATTHEW C. FISHER, IMPERIAL COLLEGE, U.K. 0 lcm 100

VANISHING AMPHIBIANS 145 I

In the wild, Pacific horned frogs breed explosively during good rains and burrow under- ground most other times. Conversion of scrub and sandy habitat for agriculture is reducing frog numbers, but now the species is reproducing in captivity for the first time. PACIFIC HORNED FROG • Ceratophrys stolzmanni At Pontificia Universidad CatOlica del Ecuador UP TO 3 INCHES • ECUADOR AND PERU • VULNERABLE -,;•fkkir

A display of species deemed "likely extinct" illustrates Ecuadors profound loss of biodiversity in recent years. "It is a disaster," says herpetologist Luis Coloma. One step forward: The countrys new constitution protects natural resources, which could lead to fewer specimens under glass. A A

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Captivity is the last resort for Gastrotheca pseustes (above) and 15 other endangered species, more than 900 individuals total, at Pontificia Universidad CatOlica in Quito. A staff of seven, a few volunteers, and about $100,000 a year now support the breeding facility. Expansion plans will beg more funds.

ORNATE HORNED FROG REINWARDTS TREE FROG MARSUPIAL FROG Ceratophrys omata Rhacophorus reinwardtii Gastrotheca pseustes At the Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga At the Knoxville Zoo, Tennessee At Pontificia Universidad CatOlica del Ecuador UP TO 4 INCHES • SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA • DECUNING UP TO 2.5 INCHES • ASIA • DECUNING UP TO 2.5 INCHES • ECUADOR • ENDANGERED at 11,000-foot-high Sixty Lake Basin, stands a Most of the rest of the animals hes known in stark paradise of granite towers made famous this place are gone. What happened here is the through the lens of Ansel Adams, where alpine perfect example of those multiple punches— lakes once roiled in summer with hearty frog a case study of how a thriving species can get populations. The most common species is the knocked to its knees. mountain yellow-legged frog—subtly pretty, It started with the trout. tinged yellow on torso and limbs, spotted brown Until the late 19th century, the Sierra Nevada and black. But recently this palm-size frog has was mostly fishless above the waterfalls. But been hard to find. state policy of fish stocking eventually climbed A slender man with a campers stubble and a to the high Sierra to transform those "barren" soft demeanor squats at the side of pond number lakes into a fishermans paradise. The California 100, bordered by stoic rock walls and edged with Department of Fish and Game began sending pink mountain heather and tangled grasses. trout up the cliffs, first in barrels on muleback, Vance Vredenburg is a biologist at San Francisco and by the 1950s in the bellies of airplanes. (The State University, and hes been studying the planes would fly over the water and let drop their mountain yellow-legged frog for 13 years, slum- living cargo, much of which missed its mark and ming in a tent on the mountainside for weeks at was left flopping on dry land.) All told, more a time as he monitors 80 different study lakes. than 17,000 mountain lakes were stocked. Today, mosquito net balled up around his neck, As it turns out, trout eat tadpoles and young he contemplates ten dead frogs, stiff-legged, frogs. As trout multiplied, frogs disappeared. white bellies going soft in the sun. Vredenburgs work in Sixty Lake Basin "It wasnt long ago when you walked along became an attempt to restore the lakes to their the bank of this pond," he recalls, "a frog leapt pre-1900s fishless status in order to bring back at every other step. Youd see hundreds of them the frogs. He unfurled wide nets bank to bank, alive and well, soaking in the sun in a writhing reeled them in, and disposed of the catch (often mass." But in 2005, when the biologist hiked up on the grill with a little salt and pepper). Eventu- to his camp anticipating another season of long- ally the National Park Service took over the proj- term studies, "there were dead frogs everywhere. ect, and now 14 lakes are fish-free or virtually Frogs Id been working with for years, that Id so. As more fish were netted out, Vredenburg tagged and followed through their lives, all dead. says, the "frogs started to recolonize; the lakes I sat down on the ground and cried." were coming back to life." Vredenburgs biggest remaining study popu- But then came another blow. Chytrid, which lation, in pond number 8, has about 35 adults. had already invaded Yosemite National Park,

LEMUR LEAF FROGS EASTERN H ELLB EN DER Hylomantis lemur Ciyptobranchus alleganiensis At Zoo Atlanta. Georgia At San Francisco State University. California UP TO 2 INCHES • CENTRAL AMERICA • CRITICALLY ENDANGERED UP TO 16 INCHES • UNITED STATES • DECLINING I

BUDGETTS FROG • Lepidobatrachus laevis At the National Aquarium, Baltimore, Maryland UP TO 4 INCHES • SOUTH AMERICA • DECLINING Amphibians have evolved into 6,000 singular species as beautiful, diverse—and imperiled—as any on Earth. arrived in Sixty Lake Basin and swept from lake there may be time for the animals to ramp up to lake, around a hundred of them, in a predict- their own immunity," Harris says. "And we able and deadly line. After removing fish and wouldnt be putting anything into the environ- restoring habitat, "to have this disease wipe the ment that isnt already there. Perhaps we can frogs out again—it breaks my heart," he says. stop the epidemic outbreaks of chytrid." Oddly, the fungus infects but doesnt kill tad- Upcoming Amphibian Ark projects may help poles, which is why wriggling schools remain researchers test these measures. In Panama, in otherwise lifeless ponds. Mountain yellow- chytrid has only recently jumped the canal and legged frogs take some six years to mature. begun a march eastward toward the still pristine "Those tadpoles are from years ago—theres Darien Province, where at least 121 amphib- been no breeding in this pond since chytrid ian species are known. One rescue facility is arrived," Vredenburg explains. As soon as they already up and running there; U.S. and Pana- transform into frogs, theyll die: manian partners are now planning another— Yet Vredenburg remains doggedly optimis- in part for research into how to boost enough tic. He calls pond number 8 his victory pond. healthful skin microbes in wild populations When he saw the frogs start to die, he removed to stop the fungus cold. If the strategy works, some of the adults and treated them with an the golden frog, for one, may be returned in antifungal medication, then put them back. healthy numbers to Panamas forests. Mean- The population—though tiny—has now been while, in frog-rich Ecuador, Coloma and Ron stable for three years running. Vredenburg have petitioned the government for an environ- plans to apply his painstaking capture-treat- mental audit of the Limon road project. Con- release method to animals in other ponds struction has ceased for now, and some habitat in Sixty Lake Basin. (Recently announced, a restoration may be done. Though perhaps too similar treatment project by a U.K. team aims late to save the choked streams animals, to mitigate disease in the Mallorcan midwife media attention there could help future land toad of Spain.) If enough fungal spores can be preservation efforts. cleared from frogs bodies, he says, the disease may lose its hold. WHY CARE ABOUT FROGS? "I could give you a • Other sites are also yielding good news. Some thousand reasons," says Coloma. Because their amphibians arent affected by the fungus or can skin acts not only as a protective barrier but carry it without being hobbled. Certain Costa also as a lung and a kidney, they can provide an Rican tree frogs have skin pigments that allow early warning of pollutants. Their insect prey them to bask in the sun without drying out, carries human pathogens, so frogs are an ally killing the fungus with heat. Most encourag- against disease. They serve as food for snakes, ing, Reid Harris of James Madison University birds, even humans, playing a key role .in both and colleagues have found an innate defense freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. "There in salamanders and some frogs: symbiotic skin are places where the biomass of amphibians bacteria that inhibit chytrid infection. (Some was once higher than all other vertebrates com- naturally occurring skin proteins show similar bined," says David Wake. "How can you take fungus-fighting properties.) "If we can augment that out of the ecosystem without changing it the good bacteria to help lower transmission, in a major way? There will be ecological conse- quences that we havent yet grasped: Gaping defensively, a single Budgetts "The story is much bigger than frogs," says frog stands among many in the fight for Vredenburg. "Its about emerging disease and amphibian survival. Researchers have about predicting, coping with, and fighting ramped up the search for solutions, and things we dont fully understand. Its about all each small victory breeds new hope. of us. Everyone should care: 0

VANISHING AMPHIBIANS 153 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC APRIL 2009 • VOL. 215 • NO. 4

Australias Dry Run 34 Farmers feel betrayed by the climate. By Robert Draper Photographs by Amy Toensing

Changing Rains 60 Droughts and deluges could stir up political unrest. By Elizabeth Kolbert

Svalbards Ice Paradise 66 Seals, bears, and birds flourish on Norways islands. By Bruce Barcott Photographs by Paul Nicklen

The Woman Who Would Be King 88 Why did Hatshepsut decide to rule Egypt as a man? BytChip Brown Photographs by Kenneth Garrett

Resurrecting Russias Church 112 The faithful search for a new, post-Soviet identity: By Serge Schmemann Photographs by Gerd Ludwig

Vanishing Amphibians 138 Scientists race to save them from threats. By Jennifer S. Holland Photographs by Joel Sartore

A Gordons mossy frog plays dead at a South Dakota reptile center. The Asian species rolls over to fool predators. Story on page 138. PHOTO. JOEL SARTORE

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY