A billion frogs on world's plates (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Up to one billion frogs are taken from the wild for human consumption each year, according to a new study.

Researchers arrived at this conclusion by analysing UN trade data, although they acknowledge there is a lot of uncertainty in the figure.

France and the US are the two biggest importers, with significant consumption in several East Asian nations.

About one-third of all amphibians are listed as threatened species, with habitat loss the biggest factor.

But hunting is acknowledged as another important driver for some species, along with climate change, pollution and disease - notably the fungal condition chytridiomycosis which has brought rapid extinctions to some amphibians.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7845306.stm

[madokie]

1. Let me see if I remember this right

back in the mid to late '70s you could get frog legs at about any restaurant around here. Frog legs were on the menu everywhere then all of a sudden they weren't anymore. Later I read that the frog legs we were eating were being imported primarily from India and they were feeling the mosquito bites that made them realize that the frogs were what were keeping their numbers down. They then quite exporting frog legs and IIRC they even have a law now saying that there is to be no more frog legs exported.

[bluedawg12]

2. 6.5 billion mouths to feed.

Humans have to eat something. Never mind the strain on the biosphere. :eyes: