Toad-ally Thirsty: Going Out with a Bang

When frogs face a life-threatening disease, you’d expect them to hunker down and focus on survival. But nature sometimes has other plans.

A deadly disease caused by a chytrid fungus has decimated 500+ amphibian species. Over 90 are already extinct because of it. The green and golden bell frog has an interesting response to it…

Conservation biologist Venice Chan studies frog reproductive biology in response to chytrid fungus at the University of Melbourne. We’re chatting about the fact that infected frogs literally go all in on reproduction, putting all their eggs (or rather, sperm) in one basket. Male green and golden bell frogs exposed to chytrid fungus produce more sperm volume and more sperm cells. It’s nature’s way of saying: if you’re going down, you’re going down hard.

This episode is toad-ally ribbiting!

Originally aired 24th February, 2026.

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