Frank Valoy- Chapter 1: The Sixth Extinction

              In chapter 1, Elizabeth Kolbert begins her explanation of “The Sixth Extinction” by talking about the poisonous Golden Frog species that symbolizes luck in El Valle de Antón, Panama. Kolbert mentions that these frogs began to disappear vastly around Panama and biologists attempted to preserve them in a lab, but they were too late. Kolbert visited El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center (EVACC), where biologists attempt to preserve amphibians. The amphibians in EVACC were the last of their species and it was noticed that many frogs were vanshing in populated and disturbed places.
              It was concluded that Chytrid Fungi (Bd) was the cause of killing these amphibians, including the Golden Frog species, after it was first found from blue poison-dart frog samples in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, this fungi is unstoppable because it already spreaded across Panama and it’s very difficult to get rid of. The goal that EVACC has is to maintain their amphibians until they release them back into the wild to repopulate the forest, but it seemed very unlikely because of the Bd.
              The disappearance of the Golden Frog species was described as a mass extinction and it’s hard to notice the extinction of these frogs because their average extinction rate is every 1000 years. Unfortunately, other species are reaching this same rate.
              When Kolbert visited EVACC, she met the director Edgardo Griffith. Griffith showed her the species of amphibians that were being preserved and he told her, “Unfortunately, we are losing all of these amphibians before we even know that they exist” (Pg.10). (R) After reading this quote, it made me think about how large our world is and how there are still parts of the world that haven’t been discovered yet. This quote connects to the theme “Science is a method of learning more about the world” because science helps us better understand our life around us. There are many curious people who question everything around them and science helps to answer these questions. I guess it’s safe to say that science lays a foundation of discovery that unravels our world’s mysteries.
             (C) The idea of the world having parts that are yet to be discovered reminds me of the controversies of whether or not Bigfoot or Mermaids are real. Many argue that they’re obviously not real. However, some mention that there are still places that haven’t been found yet in this world, meaning that there is a possibility. There are even videos that provide “evidence” that prove that their existence, but many claim that they’re fake. Who knows?