March 20 is World Frog Day. Frogs and toads have inhabited Earth for hundreds of millions of years, but 40% of amphibians species are now at risk of extinction, according to the latest conservation assessments.
Every year, roughly 150 new amphibian species are described. But many are immediately listed as threatened or endangered due to habitat loss, disease and climate change.
“Some species may not even get named before they go extinct,” biologist Zeeshan Mirza told Mongabay in December 2025.
Over the last year, Mongabay’s reporters have covered pressing threats facing frogs in all corners of the world. Here are a few.
Rare galaxy frogs threatened by photo tourism in India
Seven rare galaxy frogs (Melanobatrachus indicus) disappeared from southern India’s Western Ghats rainforest after a small group allegedly spent four hours handling and photographing the animals, an anonymous informant reported.
Researchers studying galaxy frogs, named for their resemblance to a night sky, found overturned logs and trampled vegetation at the site where the frogs had lived among rotting wood and stones.
“These beautiful yet rare frogs are unlike anything else on our tiny corner of the universe,” K.P. Rajkumar, a Zoological Society of London fellow, told Mongabay reporter Liz Kimbrough. “This sad event is a stark warning for the consequences of unregulated photography.”
Endangered mountain yellow-legged frog reintroduced again in California
Conservationists released 350 endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs (Rana muscosa) into Bluff Lake in Southern California earlier this year.
The species was once highly abundant in the region, but in 2023, there were fewer than 200 adults, even following several previous frog releases produced through captive breeding.
Non-native rainbow trout have decimated the species. Climate-driven wildfires and drought paired with a chytrid fungus outbreak have made their survival in the wild even more difficult.
“I think for most species, we’re really hoping for recovery, right? But in this case, we’re trying to prevent extinction,” Debra Shier of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance told Mongabay contributor Sean Mowbray. “We have to try everything in the conservation toolbox.”
Three ‘unassuming’ brown frogs described in Peru
Three new-to-science frog species were described in the remote Cordillera de Huancabamba in the northwestern Peruvian Andes: Pristimantis chinguelas, P. nunezcortezi and P. yonke.
Scientists behind the discovery found the species during a series of night expeditions between 2021 and 2024. They said satellite imagery from the area already showed habitat loss from fire, agriculture and cattle ranching.
“They’re small and unassuming, but these frogs are powerful reminders of how much we still don’t know about the Andes,” lead author Germán Chávez of the Peruvian Institute of Herpetology told Mongabay.
Banner image: Galaxy frog in the Western Ghats, India. Photo courtesy of K.P. Rajkumar/ZSL.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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