It is the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs.  Population by population, species by species, amphibians are vanishing off the face of the Earth. Despite international alarm and a decade and a half of scientists scrambling for answers, the steady hemorrhaging of amphibians continues like a leaky faucet that cannot be fixed or a wound that will not heal.  Large scale die-offs of frogs around the world have prompted scientists to take desperate measures to try to save those frogs they can, even bathing frogs in Clorox solutions and keeping them in Tupperware boxes under carefully controlled conditions to prevent the spread of a deadly fungus. Will it ever be safe to return the frogs back to the ecosystem from which they were taken? Buy the DVD. This film premiered April 5, 2009.

Chytrid continues to move quickly, extinguishing entire frog populations in a matter of months.  Scientists have taken drastic measures to counteract it, such as evacuating frogs from the wild and sheltering them in a sterile environment.  The El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center in Central Panama, for example, houses 58 species of frogs in their facility, including the rare golden frog, which no longer exists in the wild. To date, the only chytrid-free area left in Panama is the Burbayar Forest, a thriving environment still full of healthy, unaffected frogs.

Frogs may seem small and insignificant, but their bodies may hold the key to important new discoveries in medical research.  Scientists are finding that chemical compounds found in frogs’ skins can be used to treat pain and block infections, and are even being explored as HIV treatments.  Our chances for the discovery of future medical miracles may be slipping away with the disappearance of these tiny creatures in our midst.

Their impact on the world’s ecosystems is great.  Frogs sit right in the middle of the food chain, and without them, other creatures are disappearing, too.  We are only just beginning to understand what life may be like without them.  The race is on to stem the tide – before the next frog crosses the thin, green line.

Frogs: The Thin Green Line premieres Sunday, April 5 at 8pm ET on PBS (check local listings).

The loneliest animals are the most endangered species on the planet. Collected and protected by dedicated scientists, these animals represent the end of the line for their species. In many cases, intensive captive breeding programs have been launched with the aim of sustaining these animals and the hope of returning them to the wild. Viewers will be taken into high-security, high-tech labs where scientists attempt to breed new generations, and into the field to discover what forces have led to the demise of entire species. Featured animals include Yangtze turtles under 24-hour surveillance; a baby Sumatran rhino; a special collection of lemurs; the Spix’s macaw, a bird declared extinct in the wild in 2000; and “Lonesome George,” a giant tortoise from the Galapagos, who is the last of his kind. Buy the DVD. This film premiered Sunday, April 19, 2009.

Paul Marinari releases a black-footed ferret into a preconditioning pen

Paul Marinari has been the on-site facility manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in northern Colorado since 1996, but his focus on animals and commitment to conservation goes back much farther. “I pretty much knew that I wanted to be a biologist when I was in 5th or 6th grade after a report I did on sea slugs,” Marinari says. “As a kid, I was always identifying birds at the bird feeder in the back yard, incubating and hatching quail eggs then releasing them in the wild, going to nature centers.” His interest in animals and science, along with childhood trips to zoos and wildlife parks, “pretty much sealed the deal on my desire to concentrate on biology and anthropology while in college.” After finishing his undergraduate degree, Marinari went to the University of Wyoming for an M.S. in Zoology and Physiology.

Marinari says that his arrival to UW in 1989 was a case of being at the right place at the right time. “Plans to reintroduce ferrets were already well underway” and Marinari was able to work on a black-footed ferret project as he pursued his masters degree. He also worked with other endangered species like marble murrelets and spotted owls, gaining the experience that would eventually help him land the position of on-site facility manager at the Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center.

A normal workday for Marinari differs depending on the time of year. “Breeding season goes from about January to June, with most of the kits born in May. We then have to make sure the kits survive and that our management doesn’t have a negative impact on overall productivity and survival.” In the fall, each kit has to be prepared for reintroduction by being placed in the outdoor preconditioning pen. Here they learn basic survival skills like how to hunt. At the same time the kits are being trained, Marinari has to start preparing for the next breeding season. It’s a position that is both challenging and rewarding, Marinari says. With the largest captive colony of black-footed ferrets in the world, the Center is responsible for the breeding, safety, and health of 65 to 70 percent of the captive species. The pressure of “knowing that a large part of the international program depends on good kit production numbers at the Center” is a constant in Marinari’s work.

However stressful his job may get, Marinari is grateful for his opportunity to be involved in Black-Footed ferret conservation. “Every day the animals will find some new way to surprise you.” For Marinari, it is a huge reward to know that “all the folks that are working on ferret recovery are making a difference in the world.” His experience has led him to believe that “no matter what folks decide they want to do with their lives, they should find something their passionate about and go for it! Everyone can truly make a difference in shaping the world we live in and the world we leave behind for future generations.” “See what’s going on in [your] own neighborhood.” Marinari says, “and make a positive difference locally.”

SAMANTHA TRULL, Duke Lemur Center

Samantha Trull weighing an infant aye-aye

As a Primate Technician at the Duke Lemur Center, Sam Trull gets to observe, care for, and interact with prosimians all day. Like many others working in wildlife conservation, she has always known that she wanted to work with animals. “I originally wanted to become a veterinarian,” Sam says, “but as I grew older I became more interested in wildlife conservation than veterinary medicine.” She started volunteering at the Duke Lemur Center the summer after her sophomore year of high school, 12 years ago. Getting involved at a young age helped guide her academic path. She earned her B.S. in Zoology at North Carolina State University in 2003, and her M.S. in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford England in 2006, all while continuing to work at the Lemur Center. She plans to spend the rest of her life working with primates. “To hear a group of ringtailed lemurs vocalizing, hand a slow loris a worm, or weigh a baby aye-aye is an amazingly fulfilling experience,” Sam says. “I would do anything to make their lives a little better, and I will continue to dedicate my life to the conservation and welfare of lemurs, other primates, and all animals.”

Sam cares for many different species, but her favorite species is the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Sam loves “their curious nature, amazing morphological adaptations and the challenge that they present as a species to take care of in captivity.” Native to Madagascar, aye-ayes are currently critically endangered. They are also considered by many primatologists to be “the most unique primate in the world.” It is Sam’s job to make sure they don’t get bored. “Aye-ayes investigate everything, and because of their continuously growing incisors and extraordinary foraging technique, they require constant environmental enrichment!” This means Sam has to gather huge fallen logs (7-8 feet long and 10 inches in diameter) in the North Carolina forest surrounding the Center, and maneuver the logs into the aye-aye habitats. She places the logs diagonally—as “this more closely resembles how the trees would fall in the wild”—and lets the aye-ayes go wild. “The aye-ayes will spend hours investigating and chewing off pieces of the log looking for cavities where larvae and other insects may reside.”

A typical workday at the Center starts with preparing meals for all the animals in her care for the day. The rest of the day is split up between feeding, cleaning habitats, and special projects like aye-aye enrichment. “Every day is slightly different and sometimes I have to weigh infants, or help with the treatments of a sick or injured animal.”

RYAN WATSON, Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation

Ryan Watson with a Spix’s macaw

“For me, what I do for a living is more than just a job, it is my lifestyle,” says Ryan Watson, the Blue Macaw Coordinator at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation in Doha, Qatar. Watson lives on-site at Al Wabra, where he works six days a week managing private captive breeding programs for several macaw species. But for Watson, the personal and professional are intertwined even beyond his living where he works: he met his wife through the Lear’s Macaw Recovery Project, which they are both involved with. A field biologist, she also lives and works at Al Wabra. “A lot of our time outside of work is spent discussing our future plans to continue conservation and research work with blue macaws,” he says.

For someone whose career and home life are so interconnected, it’s not surprising that Watson’s passion for his work is deep-seated. “My interest in wildlife conservation first began approximately 25 years ago when I watched a 60 Minutes story about the African rhino poaching crisis,” he says. The senseless killing of the animals for their horns left a strong impression on him, and he remembers “wishing that there was something I could do to help save them.”

Though Watson became interested in animal conservation early on, he also recounts the particular incident that inspired him to work with birds specifically. As a young boy in Australia, Watson had the experience of having a captive red-tailed black cockatoo fly to his arm and sit on his shoulder. “At first I was quite terrified that such a large bird with a powerful beak might inflict some damage, but … I let the gentle creature fly to me and walk up to my shoulder. That experience is what really ignited my passion for birds and is one I will most probably never forget,” he says.

Throughout his childhood, Watson kept and bred various bird species. Later, he went on to work at hand-rearing facility called Birdworld, and then became a bird-keeper at the Adelaide Zoo in western Australia. From there, he went on to work for several other organizations including the Keauhou Bird Breeding Center in Hawaii, and earned a postgraduate degree in ornithology from Charles Sturt University in Australia. Watson’s path to his current position at Al Wabra took him across the globe, where he worked with various species of birds and gained experience in conservation efforts. It was while he was working for the Echo parakeet recovery program in Mauritius that
the position of Blue Macaw Coordinator for Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation was advertised globally. “I had long wanted to be involved with recovery efforts for the Spix’s macaw, a species who’s tragic story I had been following since the 1990’s, so I applied for the position and thankfully was offered the job.”

In the course of his career, Watson has learned that law and legislative policy are as important as the hands-on work he does directly in animal conservation. “The most important changes need to occur at policy level,” he says, “so during an election, choose to vote for a candidate who takes environmental issues seriously.”

At Al Wabra, part of Watson’s job is ensuring that he “make[s] the best possible pairing recommendations and decisions which are likely to lead to breeding success.” It’s no simple task, but Watson faces the job’s challenge with a wealth of passion and experience.

Each species in trouble presents unique challenges, including inbreeding and lack of genetic diversity, sibling rivalry on an extreme scale, and individuals who may never have seen another of their kind.  There are some successes with captive breeding.  For example, the black-footed ferret, once thought to be entirely extinct, is now being reintroduced to its natural home on the American plains after an incredible intervention by scientists.  But rebounding in artificial settings doesn’t put endangered animals in the clear – populations may grow, but without successful action to preserve and maintain their wild habitats, they may be confined to laboratories and sanctuaries forever.

The Loneliest Animals follows the plight of these incredible, charismatic creatures and the struggles of the dedicated conservationists who fight for them.

The Loneliest Animals premiered April 19, 2008 on PBS (check local listings).

GRADE LEVEL: 5-8

TIME ALLOTMENT: Two 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW:

The loneliest animals are the last of their kind on the planet. Scientists warn that up to 100 species a day are being pushed toward extinction. Sadly, many of these creatures are endangered because of human actions. Nature: The Loneliest Animals profiles a variety of captive breeding programs, designed to bolster these dwindling animal populations.

Using segments from this program and other Web resources, students will discuss different ways that animal species become extinct, and analyze how human actions can positively and negatively influence a species’ population. Students will also discuss the benefits and challenges of helping an endangered species through captive breeding, and will prepare “news segments” for the class to present research on endangered species.

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to:

• Compare and discuss different causes of extinction;
• Name several currently highly endangered species, and describe how people are trying to bring them back from the brink of extinction;
• Research an endangered species, and present information from online, print, and broadcast resources in an oral report.

MEDIA RESOURCES:

Video:

NATURE, The Loneliest Animals, selected segments

Clip 1: Yangtze giant soft shell turtle

Clip 2: Sumatran rhinoceros

Clip 3: Lemurs

Clip 4: Black-Footed Ferret

Clip 5: Imperiled Lives

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

Web sites

Yangtze Giant Soft-shell Turtle (China)

Asian Turtle Conservation Network: Rafetus Swinhoei

Fact page on the endangered soft-shell turtle

China’s Turtles: Emblems of a Crisis (New York Times)

Article about the Chinese breeding effort for Rafetus Swinhoei

Sumatran Rhinoceros (Sumatra, Indonesia)

International Rhino Foundation:

Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary

[NOTE: page features graphic photo of two rhinos mating.]

Information about Sumatran Rhinos from the Indonesian sanctuary

Sumatran Rhino

General information about the endangered Sumatran Rhino

News from the Field – International Rhino Foundation Blog

Latest news in Rhino research

Lemurs (Madagascar); including Golden-Crowned Sifaka

Duke University Lemur Center

Information on the many species of lemur at the Duke University Center, including the endangered Golden-Crowned Sifaka

Black-Footed Ferret (United States)

Prairie Wildlife Research

Black-footed ferret conservation information

STANDARDS:

National Science Education Standards

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4962

LIFE SCIENCE: Content Standard C

As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understanding of

• Diversity and adaptations of organisms
  • Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. Species acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological adaptation, which involves the selection of naturally occurring variations in populations. Biological adaptations include changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment.

o        Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its survival. Fossils indicate that many organisms that lived long ago are extinct. Extinction of species is common; most of the species that have lived on the earth no longer exist.

SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES: Content Standard F

As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understanding of

• Populations, Resources, and Environments
  • When an area becomes overpopulated, the environment will become degraded due to the increased use of resources.
  • Causes of environmental degradation and resource depletion vary from region to region and from country to country.

MATERIALS:

For the class:

• One computer with Internet access and audiovisual projection system, for screening video segments
• “Last of their Kind” Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)
• [Optional - toothpicks, stopwatch, and flour, for the Extinction Simulation extension activity - see the "Loneliest Animals Extinction Simulation" (PDF)

For each group of 2-3 students:

• Computer with Internet access

For each student:

• “Causes of Extinction” Student Organizer (PDF)(RTF)
• “Last of their Kind?” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)
• “Explore a Species” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)

PREP FOR TEACHERS

Preview all of the video segments and Web sites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Make copies of student organizers listed in the “Materials” section.

Proceed to ACTIVITIES

Excerpts from the NATURE episode, “The Loneliest Animals”

Downloadable QuickTime versions of the video segments:
(Note: To download a video, right click on the video title and click “Save Link As…’ or “Save Target As…”. On a Mac, press the CTRL key and simultaneously click the mouse, then save the link.)

Clip 1: Yangtze Giant Soft-Shell Turtle

Clip 2: Sumatran Rhinoceros

Clip 3: Lemurs

Clip 4: Black-Footed Ferret

Clip 5: Imperiled Lives

Poison dart frog

Almost a year ago NATURE asked me to make a film about the disappearance of amphibians.  I’d made a film on that very subject 15 years ago, so I was a bit reluctant… for about a nanosecond.  Then I realized I couldn’t say no.

The fact is, since making my prior film dozens of frog species have disappeared -– and the decline of amphibians has escalated into one of the greatest environmental crises of our time.  Scientists are calling it the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs.  It’s HUGE!!!

The other reason I said yes is: I love frogs.

So, on a blustery day in April I began to piece together my stories… Since the crisis is global, that meant finding characters and frogs in spots as far away as Australia and South America, as well as right here in our own backyards.

The research was sobering.  Amphibians have survived for 360 million years and suddenly they’re vanishing…  I quickly learned that there isn’t any one culprit; frogs are getting hit from just about every direction: climate change, habitat loss, chemical run-off, introduced predators, over-collection, and deadly diseases… Basically, humans have stirred up a perfect storm for amphibians.

Over the next three days I’ll be posting more about my experiences with Frogs… Tomorrow: Panama (where we were faced the challenges of filming frogs in the middle of a wet jungle at night).  Hope you’ll come back…

- Allison Argo