Updates on the fight to save amphibians
Thursday, February 11, 2016 - 14:50
in Biology & Nature
On January 12, 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed a ban on the import and interstate transport of 201 species of salamanders, in an effort to prevent the deadly fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) from reaching the United States. First discovered in the Netherlands in 2013, Bsal was found to have hitched a ride on Asian salamanders imported to Europe as pets. While some salamander species worldwide are resistant to Bsal, many European and North American salamanders—which did not co-evolve with the fungus—seem to be more susceptible to infection.