This unusual frog belongs to the endangered species of amphibians and lives in Panama and Costa Rica. Belongs to the family Real toads and the genus Panama harlequin. This is a large genus of tailless amphibians. Despite the status of an endangered species of frogs, there are about 110 of its varieties in the genus. All of them are very brightly colored.
Spread
These amphibians inhabit certain regions of South and Central America: the territory of Costa Rica and south to Bolivia, excluding Guiana, as well as coastal areas of Brazil. The overwhelming majority of species of the genus are practically unexplored; they are extremely rare even within the range.
Today, a sad situation has developed for atelopus varius: more than 2/3 of the representatives of this species have died out in just 10 years. The beginning of their extinction began in the 80s of the last century. We will talk about the causes of their extinction a little later.
This species of frogs lives in moist forests, in mountain valleys. Scientists have never been able to see how harlequin frogs mate in the wild. Researchers suggest that this happens in rocky streams. It was in them that their tadpoles were discovered.
External features
The color of these amphibians is always very bright, although the color palette can be different. Most often, against a dark background there are many bright spots. There are other color options: orange and green, red and yellow, and even purple. Harlequin frog got its name due to its bright color.
The frog has thin and long forelegs, its hind legs are even longer, but they are much thicker. The length of the males reaches four centimeters, females - three and a half centimeters.
Lifestyle
Despite the fact that this is a daytime animal, it is very difficult to detect even in the daytime. The frog harlequin sleeps on the leaves; activity is shown in the daytime. Many tourists who visited Panama note that they did not happen to see representatives of this species in the wild, although official sources say that it is in Panama that most of these unusual frogs live.
The bright colors of the harlequin frog are not accidental - it warns that it is unsafe to eat. Amphibian is really poisonous. If it is eaten by a fish, then it will not survive. The strongest poison is found in the skin, more precisely, in the skin fluid.
When a stranger approaches, the males desperately defend their territory: the owner warns with a buzzing sound that the territory is occupied. Sometimes males fight for territory - the rightful owner catches up with an opponent and jumps on him.
Nutrition
This frog feeds on insects (flies, ants, caterpillars), small arthropods. There are no problems with food - there are a lot of insects throughout Panama and around Panama City.
Causes of extinction
Scientists believe that in the tropics of Costa Rica and Panama, at an altitude of more than 1.5 thousand meters, there is a serious threat to the local fauna due to global warming. Climate changes change air temperature, often fogs form, leading to changes in humidity levels. It is in tropical forests that the relationship between ecosystem change and climate change is particularly noticeable.
For this reason, foggy forests have turned into natural laboratories for scientists, where they study the effects on the life of amphibians of global warming. Their number in recent years has decreased significantly. The harlequin frog is a prime example of an ongoing process.
However, an increase in air temperature alone could not lead to the extinction of frogs. When a significant increase in temperature is noted, the nebula in the forests is reduced, harlequin frogs have to live more compactly in the remaining territories, and a similar situation is stressful for them.
As a result, frog organisms become more susceptible to various infections and diseases. In addition, scientists associate the reduction in the population of this species of frogs with the presence of the fungus chytridiomycosis, which can destroy the species in two to three months.
However, the researchers found that even in areas where there is no this fungus, the number of amphibians continues to decline rapidly. Scientists at the Costa Rican Academy of Sciences have been researching for 35 years. According to their results, the number of reptiles and amphibians decreased by almost 75%. Studies were conducted in La Selva and Costa Rica, where there is no deadly fungus, so scientists have come to the conclusion that rainfall and temperature increase affect population numbers. People do not affect the disappearance of the population: they do not catch frogs and do not reduce their natural habitat.
It only says that the cause of the disappearance of harlequin frogs is complex. In some regions, this is due to the fungus chytridiomycosis, in others - the reduction of foggy tropics, in the third - with global warming. All these reasons are inextricably linked. If today you can still meet representatives of the species in the wild (although extremely rare), then in a few years they can disappear from our planet.