Indian researchers have discovered 14 new species of dancing frogs that are facing threat of extinction.
The discovery was made in the mountains of the Western Ghats in southern India. The team of researchers found that the tiny acrobatic amphibians' population has decreased dramatically over the last decade and habitat changes have a major role to play in this. The species breed in fast-rushing streams after the yearly monsoons. Sadly, weather changes have driven their habitats to become increasingly dry.
"It's like a Hollywood movie, both joyful and sad. On the one hand, we have brought these beautiful frogs into public knowledge. But about 80 percent are outside protected areas, and in some places, it was as if nature itself was crying," said the project's lead scientist, University of Delhi professor Sathyabhama Das Biju, according to International Business Times.
The new discovery brings the total number of known Indian dancing frog species to 24. The new species are found exclusively in the Western Ghats. They got their name "dancing frog" because of the unusual kick they use to attract mates, though only males "dance." They first stretch and then whip their legs out to the side to draw the attention of females who might have trouble hearing mating croaks over the sound of water flowing through perennial hill streams.
They also use this "dance" so ward off other males - an important trait considering the gender ratio among these acrobatic amphibians is 100 males to one female. The bigger the frog, the more they dance.
Biju and his team also pointed out that the frogs are tiny and delicate and grow no more than the size of a walnut. Hence, they can only breed when stream currents subside.
"Compared with other frogs, these are so sensitive to this habitat that any change might be devastating for them," Biju said, according to Daily Mail. "Back in 2006, we saw maybe 400 to 500 hopping around during the egg-laying season. But each year there were less, and in the end even if you worked very hard it was difficult to catch even 100."
A 2010 report by India's Environment Ministry also said the Ghats were likely to be hard-hit by changing rainfall patterns due to climate change, and more recent scientific studies have also suggested monsoon patterns will grow increasingly erratic. The Western Ghats continue to remain home to more than 325 of the world's threatened species of plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish.
"It's quite an unexpected discovery of a large number of species," Biju told the BBC Tamil service. "The uniqueness of these new species is what we can scientifically call 'foot flagging' behaviour to attract the female at the time of thee breeding season," he said.
Researchers point out that amphibians are extremely vulnerable to climate change and habitat loss. According to Global Wildlife Conservation, more than 33 percent of the world's known 6,000 frog species are threatened with extinction from habitat loss, pollution, changing temperatures or exotic diseases spread by invasive animals and pests.
Sonali Garg, one of the study's co-authors, said her family initially thought she was crazy for wanting to study frogs. "But slowly, they're becoming aware of how important and special frogs are," she said. "Slowly, I'm converting them."
Findings were published online in the Ceylon Journal of Science.
