Panamanian Golden Frog:
Wrapping up our first month of Endangered Species All-Stars on iWild is the Panamanian Golden Frog, which is, in fact, a toad. Last filmed in the wild for BBC’s 2008 Life in Cold Blood series, this extraordinary poison toad—endemic to Panama—secretes a water-soluble neurotoxin known as zetekitoxin. It may be extinct in the wild; individuals have been collected in an effort to breed them for reintroduction. As it stands, however, deforestation and water pollution—which spread the deadly fungal infection chytridiomycosis—drove the population to a steep decline of over 80% in only a decade. The IUCN attributes much of that decline to the 2003 construction of a road along a ridge of the Cordillera Central, just one example of the pernicious effects that roads can have on endangered species, opening the way for people and pathogens.
