Nearly 50 per cent of around 36 different species of frogs found in Munnar region of Western Ghats are threatened by extinction, says conservationists,
A frog census undertaken by the Munnar Forest Division in collaboration with the Conservation Research Group (St Albert's College, Kochi) on December 30 to monitor the population of the 'Critically Endangered Toad-skinned frog Indirana phrynoderma' also found that the species "in reality is more threatened than the tiger."
This frog is restricted within 100 sq km and is found only in small fragments of tropical rain forests in the Anamalai Hills, specifically at Munnar.
"There are nearly 36 different species of frogs in Munnar of which nearly 50 per cent are threatened by extinction. The toad-skinned frog along with the Anamalai gliding frog(Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricus), Raorchestes chlorosomma, Raorchestes griet, Raorchestes munnarensis and Raorchestes resplendens are the critically endangered species in the region," a release issued by the researchers said.
The team members, who conducted the survey, included Arun Kanagavel, Sethu Parvathy, Rajendran K and Rajan S.
"Since amphibians are excellent indicators of habitat quality, monitoring the population of this rare frog will give us an indication of the status of the shola-grassland ecosystems of Munnar in the years to come," it said.
Although small, measuring just 4.5cm, the toad-skinned frog is very specialised - it has its own, very particular, set of habitat requirements.
It is a terrestrial species found associated with leaf litter at high elevation tropical rain forests.
"Being a habitat specialist, it can be a model species to help promote habitat conservation. The Anamalai and Cardamom Hills were in the distant past a pristine rain forest, but in the early 1900s it was almost entirely converted to tea plantations," the release said.
"The forest fragments that remain are very small
remnants of what it was. This animal, the toad skinned frog in a way is a relic, symbolic of the original landscape; if these forest remnants hadn't survived, the toad skinned frog would have been destroyed for good," Sethu Parvathy said.
The Conservation Research Group --Kanagavel and Parvathy-- in collaboration with the Kerala Forest Research Institute (Sandeep Das, KFRI) had previously conducted workshops with the front-line staff of the forest department at Munnar to build their capacity in identifying threatened amphibians of Munnar like the toad-skinned frog.
"This frog resembles a toad (locally known as 'choriyan paaratavala') and can be easily differentiated from its black, speckled underbelly and elongated finger and toe tips," Parvathy said.
The survey, conducted by the Munnar Forest Division and Conservation Research Group, aims at being initiated into an amphibian census programme that will be conducted annually henceforth at Munnar by the collaborating institutions, she said.
