Conservationists in Chile are racing against time to save the rare Loa water frog
SANTIAGO - When Chilean scientists last year discovered 14 Loa water frogs struggling to survive in a nearly dry river bed in the country’s northern desert, the clock began ticking.The tiny, dark-spotted amphibians, Telmatobius dankoi, had long persisted against all odds in a tiny creek in Chile’s Atacama desert, the world’s driest. But pollution and habitat destruction outside Calama, a fast-growing mining city of 180,000, has pushed the frogs to the brink, scientists say.
Zoo researchers were forced to start from scratch, first adding minerals to distilled water until they achieved a chemical composition similar to that of the Loa frog’s native habitat. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers the frog to be “critically endangered,” but acknowledges more research is needed to understand their habitat and save them from extinction.
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