Kids ‘leap 4 life’ to save endangered Amphibians
Thursday, 7th February 2008
With up to half of the world's amphibian species in danger of becoming extinct, Marwell Zoological Park is launching a new campaign to save these fascinating creatures.
Hampshire school children will 'Leap 4 Life' and visually show just what this looks like by leaping 1892 times - each leap representing every amphibian species that may be wiped off the planet in the next few years.
Leap 4 Life aims to raise awareness about the amphibians' plight through various frog and toad themed activities taking place at Marwell through-out 2008. The Park is also building a special bio-secure centre which will take endangered amphibian species into protective custody.
The amphibian crisis - which equates to the largest mass extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs - is mostly due to man's destruction of their natural habitats but they now face an even bigger and deadlier threat - Amphibian Chytrid. This unstoppable fungus is spreading uncontrollably over the world and kills up to 80 percent of each amphibian species it comes into contact with.
