Are frogs on their last legs?

Richard Collins on dangers facing half of the world’s frogs, toads and newts.

INTERVIEWED by the BBC’s John Humphreys, last week, broadcaster and naturalist, David Attenborough, claimed that half of the world’s frogs, toads, and newts may be extinct in 40 years.

We are accustomed to hearing of individual species in decline, or that families, such as the rhinos, are in dire straits, but now an entire class of 5,743 species is said to be in trouble. Frog population crashes and local extinction were first recorded in the 1980s. The situation has since deteriorated, with amphibian problems reported in many parts of the world.