The first website I visited focused on all species. If you go into popular species and then choose amphibians, an array of different amphibian species, videos, and photos appear. The page opens up with a description of what an amphibian is, an example of a few amphibians, and the explanation that around 41% of amphibians are at risk for extinction. The first amphibian offered to explore is the Chinese giant salamander. The Chinese salamander lives underwater in cold and fast running rivers and streams. The Chinese giant salamander is classified as critically endangered on the IUNC red list. They're critically endangered due to hunting, habitat loss, deforestation, pesticides and climate change. Even having just one of these could pose as a problem, but since the Chinese giant salamander has to deal with all of these environmental issues, it's no wonder they're critically endangered.
The next website I explored compared the loss of amphibian life today to the extinction of dinosaurs because they are the only comparable species to this fast and immense extinction. This comparison put the seriousness of amphibian endangerment and extinction into perspective because it discusses the reality of the entire species going extinct. Dinosaurs are known as "before our time" and the fact that frogs, salamanders and toads could possibly be thrown into this category is catastrophic. Dinosaur extinction dealt with factors such as extreme drought, flooding, ice ages, and several other natural disasters. However, the extinction of frogs, toads and salamanders would be caused because of human's carelessness with how we treat the environment. These facts should be enough to motivate people towards change.
The final website I analyzed was a website designed for children to learn about amphibians. This website discussed how amphibians are named and classified. One fun fact I learned visiting this site is that the word amphibian means "two-lives." There are three other facts listed on this page of the website including how they grow, that they're cold-blooded, and that there are over 4,000 amphibian species that exist. Unfortunately, this website's page did not discuss the endangerment and extinction of amphibians. While this is a children's website and they want to keep the information understandable and interesting, I think it is extremely important to educate children about amphibian's critical case of endangerment. Children are our future, therefore, they should know more than anyone about the environmental issues in today's society. If we can interest children in this issue, educate them about how to help, and motivate them to get involved then they could improve the situation we have gotten ourselves and this species into.
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