Extinct in the Wild
In 1984 these were listed as endangered, shortly after it was assumed they were extinct, but then some were found in 1987. The reason for the sudden disappearance was the fungal disease called chytrid (chytridiomycosis). There was a captive breeding program set up, but because of the fungus many of the adults continued to die, and all the first tadpoles died. A woman involved with the program tried a rather drastic move. She discovered a human toenail fungus treatment that had a lot of little balls in each capsule. She fed one of those balls to any frog that seemed to be getting sick. It seems to have worked because since then there have been thousands of the toads released into the wild. Why they are still considered extinct in the wild is because they can not sustain their population on their own. Once they do not need to have intervention to keep the species viable, then they will be able to have their classification changed. Hopefully that will be soon. The painting makes them look big, but they are only 2 inches long SVL. They are rather round, and yes, they do all look fairly ticked off.
I am about to head out of the house now to get my new glasses. I'm feeling rather anxious about them because it is a huge change from what I am used to. Instead of having progressive bifocal lenses, this doctor wants me to have one pair of glasses for when I am dealing with anything that is 6' away or so, and another pair for when I am doing things like working on the computer. For extreme close-ups I usually just take my glasses off and get extremely close to the painting I'm working on, then put my glasses back on to look at the computer. The doctor seemed to think that is fine, but since the computer is not 6' away from me, she has the near, not exactly reading glasses. I'm wondering if they will be my cooking glasses too. They don't have prisms in them, which my distance glasses do. Seriously, this is a crazy change for my eyes. I've had bifocals for a very long time. I had them in Junior High I think, then a doctor decided that was not the best thing and had me in single vision lenses, until maybe after university. This doctor thinks though that it will help me feel more secure going down-hill since my balance is bad and when I can't see my feet well it makes it even more difficult. I will let you know what I think of them.