Scientists created refuges for the animals using painted masonry bricks inside greenhouses that they called “frog saunas”. They found that endangered Australian green and golden bell frogs were able to clear infections from the deadly Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus, in the warmer conditions of the greenhouses, when they would otherwise have died. Many of the frogs that recovered in the refuges were then resistant to infection.
Doesn’t sound like something that can just be dropped outside and the frogs use.
No ☹ When they said they chose that species because “they favoured the bricks as a habitat”, I thought the frogs might just get in on their own and feel better, but that researcher then goes on to talk about bringing frogs into captivity.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A “sauna” treatment for frogs has been used by researchers in Australia to successfully fight a deadly fungal disease that has devastated amphibians around the world, according to a new study.
Scientists created refuges for the animals using painted masonry bricks inside greenhouses that they called “frog saunas”.
They found that endangered Australian green and golden bell frogs were able to clear infections from the deadly Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus, in the warmer conditions of the greenhouses, when they would otherwise have died.
In glacial ponds and alpine lakes, rainforests and wetlands, the deadly fungus has been killing off the word’s amphibian populations.
The Tanzanian Kihansi spray toad, Honduran Cerro Búfalo streamside frog and Mexican claw-toothed salamander are among the species believed to have been wiped out by the infection in the wild.
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features
The original article contains 615 words, the summary contains 157 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I wonder if humans get similar benefits from saunas?
