Monday, February 8, 2010

Frogs: Thin Green Line on NGC




Premieres: Feb 24 at 07:00 (UAE)
Frogs have been on this planet for more than 250 million years, evolving into some of the most wondrous and diverse creatures on earth. Today, they are at the center of one of the greatest mass extinctions since the dinosaurs. It is an environmental crisis unfolding in our own backyard as well as around the globe, traveling from Australia to North and South America. Where the calls of frogs once filled the air, scientists now hear only silence. 

Ecosystems are beginning to unravel, and important medical cures are vanishing. A fungus called chytrid has been identified as the major culprit, but no way has yet been found to stop it. In Central Panama, biologists have evacuated frogs from the forest in order to save their lives; today, their facility shelters 58 species of frogs - some of the rarest on earth. Yet two hours south of the Panama Canal there is a small patch of forest called Burbayar where frogs still seem to be healthy and unaffected, living as they have for millions of years. The question is for how long?


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