Chapter 1

Author, Elizabeth Kolbert, starts off her first chapter on a certain amphibian that started to go extinct in Panama. The amphibian in question is the Panamanian Golden Frog in El Valle de Anton. These frogs are considered to be a symbol of luck and played a part in the Panamanian culture. Sadly, these frogs were going missing and no one had a clue why. This was a huge issue to scientists because amphibians are known to be extremely resilient and even date as far as the dinosaurs.The sudden disappearance of these amphibians surprised and worried Kolbert, so she decided to go to Panama and visit El Valle Conservation Center ( EVACC). EVACC is a place to help protect and conserve endangered species by providing habitats similar to the wild and everything else that the animals needed. There she met Edgardo Griffith, director of EVACC, and they discussed the issue with the disappearance of the amphibians. He told her that, although they have taken many species into EVACC, he believes that there are still a lot more left, “ We are losing all these amphibians before we even know that they exist” ( pg 10). A revelation about the frog’s killer came when poison-dart frogs in the National Zoo of Washington D.C started to die. A veterinarian looked into what was causing the deaths of the frogs only to find out that it was a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd.  This fungus is difficult to stop because, not only can it survive without amphibians and wreak havoc among other species, but it can usually only be destroyed with bleach. Bb continued to spread from El Valle to the highlands of South America, Australia, and more. A theory about how Bd spread to the amphibians is that there were frogs with Bd being shipped in from other countries. This is a prime example of how humans tend to play a hand in destroying the environment for selfish reasons and have done so for many years. If only these frogs were not being shipped from country to country to fill consumer’s needs, the Bd fungus wouldn't have spread so quickly. If it wasn't for humans the Panama golden frog would've continued to be abundant; our way of connecting is rapidly changing our environment, "This sort of intercontinental reshuffling, which nowadays we find totally unremarkable, is probably unprecedented in the three-and-a-half-billion-year history of lief" (pg 18-19). We humans are accelerating the process of extinction.