The desert rain frog is a small, round creature with a plump posterior and wide eyes that went viral after a video of it squeaking in apparent distress spread across social media. According to the latest IUCN Red List update, that moment may have made things worse as demand for the species in the pet trade has risen since the video circulated, adding pressure to an animal already facing industrial encroachment across much of its range.
The IUCN Red List update now covers 175,909 species, of which 49,505 are threatened with extinction, and the desert rain frog is among the newly assessed species. Diamond mining and energy infrastructure along the west coasts of South Africa and Namibia, including a planned green hydrogen project, are projected to affect up to a third of the frog's South African range and two-thirds of its Namibian range over the next 20 years. Its population is expected to fall by 20 percent within a decade without conservation action.
“Life on Earth has adapted to survive in the most hostile and unusual habitats, such as deep-sea mollusks that live around extremely hot vents or the desert rain frog burrowing into the sand,” said IUCN director general Grethel Aguilar in a press release. Now, as pressures on biodiversity mount across the planet, even the creatures with the most ingenious survival strategies are under threat. But let us not forget there is a clear path out of the biodiversity crisis: nature conservation works.”
Read More: Species Slip Through the Cracks of the U.S. Frog Trade, Some Sold at a Premium
IUCN Red List Update Warns Deep-Sea Mining Threatens Vent Mollusks
Sixty-two percent of mollusks found exclusively at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, fissures in the ocean floor where water temperatures can exceed 842 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees Celsius), are now at risk of extinction. That is 125 of 201 known endemic species, including snails, limpets, mussels, clams, and chitons.
(Image Courtesy of Chong CHEN)
Mining for minerals used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics disturbs the seafloor and sends sediment clouds over these animals, making it harder for them to breathe and take in nutrients.
One newly listed species, Lirapex felix, a snail whose name reflects how fortunate its discoverers felt to have found it at all, has entered the Red List as Critically Endangered due to ongoing mining exploration in the Indian Ocean.
“This global assessment reveals that mollusks endemic to deep-sea hydrothermal vents are one of the most highly threatened of all animal groups, at a critical moment for their future,” said Julia Sigwart, member of the IUCN SSC Mollusk Specialist Group. “IUCN’s position is clear: in 2021, the Union voted for a moratorium on deep-sea mining unless all risks are understood and the marine environment is effectively protected.”
Not all vent species are at risk. More than 30 are considered Least Concern because they live within Marine Protected Areas where mining is not permitted, including Provanna exquisita, an ornate snail found only in the Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Ocean.
Numbat Recovery Shows Conservation Can Still Work
(Image Courtesy of Tali Moyle/Australian Wildlife Conservancy)
The numbat, a small striped marsupial and the faunal emblem of Western Australia, has improved from Endangered to Near Threatened after decades of effort. By the late 1970s, feral cats and red foxes had reduced the population to roughly 300 animals. Research, predator control through baiting and fencing, captive breeding at Perth Zoo, and animal translocations have since helped raise the population to between 2,000 and 3,000 individuals and establish at least five additional self-sustaining populations.
“Today’s assessments show that long-term, strategic and collaborative conservation effort works; without it, invasive cats and foxes will continue to drive Australia’s small marsupials and native rodents to extinction,” said John Woinarski, co-chair of the IUCN SSC Australasian Marsupial and Monotreme Specialist Group.
Five Australian marsupials, including the little bettong and four mulgara species, have been confirmed as Extinct, bringing the total number of modern mammal extinctions in Australia to more than 40. The numbat avoided that list, and whether the desert rain frog does the same depends on what happens next along the Namibian coast.
Read More: Emperor Penguins Added to IUCN Red List — Their Population Could Drop 50 Percent by 2080
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from the IUCN: From desert frog to deep-sea molluscs, remarkable species at risk – IUCN Red List
- This article references information from the IUCN: The IUCN Red List
