Not Just the Bees. We’ve Killed Kermit, too.
After reading my post about how Darth Vader is zapping bumblebees with mobile phone rays, my friend Larry alerted me to THIS ARTICLE which talks about the mysterious decline of amphibian populations. Now, we all know that frogs and lizards are very sensitive to changes in their habitat and when this habitat is disturbed, their numbers fall precipitously. However, this article is discussing amphibians living IN A PROTECTED RAINFOREST PRESERVE. From the Guardian Unlimited article:
“Conservationists working in a lowland forest reserve at La Selva in Costa Rica used biological records dating from 1970 to show that species of frogs, toads, lizards, snakes and salamanders have plummeted on average 75% in the past 35 years.
The new findings suggest an unknown ecological effect is behind at least some of the sudden losses and have prompted scientists to call for urgent studies in other protected forest areas.
The study revealed sharp declines among two species of salamander, whose numbers fell on average 14.52% every year between 1970 and 2005. Frog species slumped too, with numbers of the mimicking rain frog falling 13.49%, the common tink frog 6.69%, and the strawberry poison frog 1.18% a year. Lizards suffered similar falls, with one species, the striped litter skink, down 10.03% each year, and orange-tailed geckos declining by 8.05% every year.
The researchers also analysed weather records for the region, which revealed a rise of more than 1C in temperature over the 35-year period and a doubling of the number of wet days.”
Could it be that amphibians, too, are sensitive to all the mobile phone machinations and endless barrage of radio and microwave transmissions? I don’t know the answer, but it makes me miserable thinking about what we’ve done.
Quintron the Amazing Spellcaster has written a paean to the lovely frog. It’s called FROGS-CLUB and I’m sure you’ll love it. It’s the Song O’ the Day here at todbrilliant.com [audio:frog.mp3]
[tags]kermit, darth-vader, quintron, bees[/tags]
Tags: animal welfare, environment