There are no known effective measures to control its propagation and protect different frog species. But it is not like there aren’t any clues.
Scientists made a surprising discovery in the foothills of the Western Ghats in India, a mushroom growing out of the side of the frog. This is the first time that a mushroom has been observed growing out of a living being. To subscribe please click tau.id/2iy6f and access our live channel.
The frog, identified as Rao’s Intermediate Golden-backed Frog (Hylarana inter-media), was encountered by a team, including researchers from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), on June 19 last year in Karkala, Karnataka.
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The finding, described in the journal Reptiles and Amphibians, has left the scientific community intrigued since it is the first time a mushroom has been seen growing in a living amphibian. Researchers stumbled upon it in the foothills of the Western Ghats sporting an extraordinary feature.
This particular species is endemic to the Western Ghats of Karnataka and Kerala, specifically above the Palghat Gap, where it is known to thrive in relative abundance. The researchers noted approximately 40 of these frogs in a small roadside rainwater-fed pond.
But one of the frogs had what looked like a white-coloured growth coming out from the right side of its body. As it turned out, that was a mushroom growing out of a living frog. Fungus experts who looked at the images identified the white growth to be a Bonnet mushroom, which usually grows on dead and rotting wood.
On June 19, 2023, the researchers discovered several “Rao’s Golden-backed frogs” in a rainwater-fed pond on the roadside in the foothills of the Kudremukha ranges at Mala, Karkala, in Karnataka. The frog was not captured, instead, the researchers took pictures of it and documented it in a note.
There are many theories about how the mushroom began growing there, especially considering that the humid conditions of the Western Ghats would have provided a great environment to grow. But since the frog was not captured, it is unclear how exactly the mushroom was growing or affecting the frog.
The researchers raise concern about the discovery because there is already a fungus that threatens more than 700 species of amphibians across the world: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. The disease can cause sporadic deaths in some populations while having a 100 per cent mortality rate in others.
