Y is for Yellow-Bellied Voiceless Tree Frog
Image © and by permission of Dr Rafe Brown, University of Kansas.
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The yellow-bellied, voiceless tree frog lives in trees of the cloud forest in Mexico.
It has always been rare, and not much is known about it – it is presumed to breed in the abundant vegetation around the rocky forest streams in the areas it inhabits.
Sadly, its numbers have fallen to the extent that it has not been seen since the 1960s, and it may now be extinct.
Its habitat, fragments of cloud forest in Oaxaca, is the most fragile in Mexico – this area is subject to deforestation and settlement due to human population growth.
It may also have been a victim of the fungus chytridiomycosis – fungus that is spreading across the world and wiping out many species of frog.
41% of amphibians are endangered. This frog is classified Critically Endangered (possibly extinct) by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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Photo © Dr Rafe Brown as above.
Poem © Liz Brownlee.
Facts from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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- Posted in: A-Z Challenge 2014 ♦ Animals ♦ Poems ♦ Sustainability
- Tagged: cloud forest, endangered, frog, fungus, Mexico, nature, poem, poetry, science, sustainability, wildlife
lizbrownlee - poet 
It’s the p word poignant and very lovely x
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It is such a shame that the frogs are being depleted. I remember how much I heard the frogs in the spring and now I rarely hear them. Wonderful poem again
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