Happy Earth Day! How fantastic that we dedicate a whole day to acknowledging all of the damage we do to our planet, it almost makes it seem okay that we ignore it the other 364 days of the year.
We are tearing down more forests every day. Species are currently going extinct faster than we can discover them. Ever wonder where all those chemicals that are put on your bananas go when they get rained on? Well that fun stuff all runs off into the rain forests in whatever country your bananas are from and is killing of endangered frog species by the truck load. Oh no wait, I exaggerate. There’s not a truck load of endangered frogs left!
Everyone always forgets the frogs, but they are an important part of our ecosystem, and also one of the most delicate animals in it. Meet the limosa harlequin frog, its freaking adorable, found only in Panama and it’s endangered. According to the IUCN it’s on the Red List because “[I]ts Extent of Occurrence is less than 5,000 km2 (1,930 square miles), its distribution is severely fragmented, and there is continuing decline in the extent and quality of its forest habitat in Panama.” Basically, they’re habitat is being destroyed and guess what Earth Day you don’t seem to be spreading this little guys message! They are not doing great, but they did breed for the first-ever time in captivity this past March. The only upside to the limos harlequin frog’s plight, at least it has people trying to save it, unlike so many of the other frog species.
Let’s meet some other endangered frogs:
The Goliath Frog:
Endangered Living 
I love frogs, they are a vital keystone species and a ‘canary in the coalmine’ to alert us to the toxicity levels in our environments. We must not ignore the plight of the frogs, as it mirrors the plight of man – when frogs go extinct, mankind will follow.
Truer words have not been spoken. Spread the message of the frogs!
By the way, I love the premise of your blog about conservation minded books for kids. I’ve always had a dream of writing conservation books for little kiddies and I’m glad that other people are also trying to spread the word to the youngin’s. 🙂
Could I possibly use this as a quote for my article on de-extinction for my university newspaper?