Karpathos Frog is one of the most isolated and rarest amphibian species found in Europe.

The Scientific Name : Pelophylax(Rana) cerigensis

Where is it found?

The Karpathos Frog is currently found only in the Karpathos island of Greece situated in the Carpathian Sea of the Mediterranean. Till mid 90s the frog was believed to be found in the near by Rhodes island too. But later confirmed the species to be endemic to the Karpathos island only. In the island also, the frog is very restricted to just an single river system of area at most 100 square km(while the total area of the island is 350 square km) on the northern part of the island, near Olympos. The last population of the frog is found in the water sources of high altitude and mountains of Olympos. The Karpathos Forg prefers still or very slow running water.

How does it live?

The Karpathos Forg is mostly aquatic. Breeding and larval development of the Karpathos Frog takes place in their habitat waterbodies. The frog is probably carnivourous like other water frogs.

How does it look?

The Karpathos Frog is considered as a mid-sized frog, the adults can grow upto 7 cm in length. It has light brownish gray to olive color dorsal, with or without light brown spots. The venter is usually cream-colored with gray spots. The males have paired external lateral vocal sacs which are dark gray in color.

What are the threats?

Habitat loss is the greatest threat to the Karpathos Forgs. They are very sensitive to any habitat change. Any water pollution may be fatal to the species. karpathos is a dry island and in recent days there is a scarcity of fresh water sources due to excessive abstraction of it for agriculture and industries. The species is vulnerable to climatic change too which is a global phenomenon now. Wild fires are are considered as a threat to the species. Though the frog population site is remote, the species may go extinct anytime because of its small single site distribution of population.

Conservation Efforts

The Karpathos Frogs were adundant in the island in 1960s, the sitings of the frog have reduced dramatically in recent days. The government has declared protected areas for the Karpathos frogs. But not many organizations are known to have been working on the conservation of the species. There are no captive insurance population too. There were very little studies and researches done on the species and its conservation in the past. There is an urgent need to know more about the frog and provide proper monitoring and protection to its habitat.

New research backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reveals European bats to be a major conservation success. Bats are the only true flying mammal in the Earth and there are more than 1,1oo known bat species across the planet. They play very crucial role  in insect control and pollination.

With a majority of bat species in Europe stabilising or increasing in number, European bats are well on the way to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 7 on Environmental Sustainability, which aims for a significant reduction in the rate of species loss by 2010.

European Bat

This bucks the trend in global conservation targets, which are currently being discussed in Nagoya. World governments agreed eight years ago at a UN summit in Johannesburg to reduce the rate of species loss by 2010 but in the majority of cases, the pledge has not been met. This is mainly due to a lack of conservation action in the field, which is essential in protecting vulnerable species.

Among the 26 bat species in western and central Europe, increasing or stable population trends have been reported for at least 14 species, while only two species have shown a decline. (Reliable data is not yet available for the remaining species).

The credit of this success largely goes to legislation and treaties that promotes specific conservation measures. These include the UNEP-administered Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats (EUROBATS), the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Council of Europe) and the European Union’s Flora Fauna Habitat Directive.