Kiss of Chytrid

End of the Amphibian

Frogs and toads, salamaders and newts, wormlike (and little known) caecilians - these are the class of Amphibia: cold-blooded, creeping, hopping creatures of fairy tale, biblical plague, proverb and witchcraft.  Medieval Europe saw frogs as the  devil; for ancient Egypt they symbolised life and fertility; and for children through the ages they have been a slippery introduction to the natural world. To scientists they represent an order that has weathered over 300 million years to evolve into more than 6,000 singular species, as  beautiful, diverse - and imperiled - as anything that walks , or hops, the Earth. 

2009/2010 |64cm x 64cm x 36cm | Acrylic, Resin, Powder and Steel

Limited Edition: 5

We are witnessing a mass extinction of Amphibia. An exotic fungus, Chytrid, is delivering the fatal blow.

Chytrid is now reported on all continents where frogs live - in 43 countries. It survives at elevations from sea level to 20,000 feet.  Locally it may be spread by anything from a frog’s leg to a bird’s  feather to a hiker’s muddy boots, and it has  afflicted over 200 species.  Gone from the wild are the Costa Rican golden toad, the Panamanian golden frog, the Wyoming toad, the Australian gastric-brooding frog, to name but a few.  In a  2007 paper, Australian researcher Lee Berger and colleagues, who first laid blame on the fungus, put it this way:

“The impact of Chytrid on frogs is the most  spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history.”

Extracts from National Geographic, April 2009

© Jonty Hurwitz 2010