. Amphibians are in the worst shape among the vertebrates – with 27 per cent of mammals, 21 per cent of reptiles and 13 per cent of birds found to be threatened with extinction in separate assessments.
Amphibians first appeared more than 300 million years ago. Three orders of amphibians exist today: salamanders and newts ; frogs and toads ; and the limbless and serpentine caecilians . Since 2004, 306 species have crept closer to extinction, the study found. Habitat destruction and degradation, caused mostly by animal agriculture and crops, remained the most common danger, affecting 93 per cent of the threatened amphibian species. But a growing proportion of species was being imperiled by disease and climate change, the researchers found.
While an amphibian pandemic involving a fungal pathogen that causes the disease chytridiomycosis has waned, there is fresh concern that another fungal pathogen seen in Asia and Europe may enter the Americas. The study also cited ongoing threats from the animal trade and human hunting for food.