ANI076-00019
Chytrid fungus has swept through Kings Canyon National Park with a vengance. This is one of the last southern moutain yellow-legged frogs (Rana muscosa) in the area. The disease first appeared in this High Sierra basin in 2004, and has virtually wiped out the last stronghold metapopulations of this species. “Worldwide, this is the worst case of a disease causing extinctions in recorded history, and we’re seeing the results of it right here,” said Vance Vredenburg, an amphibian ecologist who has studied the basin for 13 years. (IUCN: EN, US: EN)
Keywords
- amphibian decline
- amphibian loss
- amphibians
- California
- chytrid fungus
- color photography
- daytime
- Disease
- endangered
- extinction
- federally endangered
- frogs
- horizontal
- king's canyon national park
- mountain yellow-legged frog
- Mountains
- outdoors
- rana muscosa
- rare
- sierra basin
- sierra nevada
- vanishing
- vanishing amphibians
- wild
This photo © Joel Sartore 2021. Image usage guidelines
