Let's help the frogs

Safe migration of amphibians

Don't be surprised if somewhere on your way across Slovenia special signs warn you about frogs on the road. Let's help the frogs is a campaign for the safe migration of amphibians, which is taking place all over Slovenia just these days in critical areas of the frog population that are crossed by busy roads. And thousands of frogs have been rescued.

Conservation groups and many volunteers are erecting protective fences or carrying amphibians in buckets across the road. Warmer evenings wake them up to leave their overwintering grounds in spring and head for the water, where they deposit their new offspring. But crossing the road can be fatal for many amphibians. As many as half of them die under car wheels.

The large number of so-called black spots, where frogs are most endangered, requires the participation of many volunteers, and volunteering is well developed in Slovenia, with a long tradition.

In case you didn't know, amphibians are extremely beneficial animals and play a very important role in the ecosystem. They are predators, feeding mainly on insects that are extremely annoying to humans (such as mosquito larvae) and thus thinning their population. They are also an important food source for other animals such as birds, otters and fish. They play an important intermediary role in the ecosystem - they keep energy circulating in the ecological earth cycle. If a group like this, which is not at the top of the food chain, disappeared, disaster would strike in the medium term as part of the food cycle would collapse.

And this: Slovenia is home to a total of 13 species of frogs, all of which are on the Red List and protected by law.

Photo: Depositphotos