Saving a Frog That Can Kill 10 People in Minutes Flat

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I get a lot of press releases about cute, cuddly, endangered critters. They’re not often about ugly or slimy species. But yesterday, I got one from several conservation groups touting efforts in Colombia to protect one of world’s deadliest animals: the golden poison frog.

The tiny frog weighs less than one ounce, but is possibly the most dangerous animal in the world. How dangerous? Well, as the press release explains:

Its poison is so toxic that even coming in contact with a paper towel that has touched the frog has been fatal to animals. Although they are only two inches long, it is estimated that each golden poison frog has enough toxin to kill ten adult people within minutes.

[…] This frog is named because of its bright orange skin that is covered by a secretion of deadly alkaloid poison (batrachotoxins). The toxin prevents nerves from transmitting impulses, leaving muscles in a constant state of contraction – leading to heart failure. Death comes within minutes.

Yeah, not exactly the kind of animal you want to go out and hug. The frog has just one natural predator, a snake that evolved to withstand its poison. The biggest threat to the frog is the loss of habitat, which has been destroyed by both illegal gold mining and logging in Colombia.

But now the Colombian conservation group Fundación ProAves has partnered with the World Land Trust, American Bird Conservancy, and Global Wildlife Conservation to buy 124 acres in the Chocó forest along the country’s western coast to create the Rana Terribilis Amphibian Reserve. It is the first designated conservation area for the frogs, which are considered endangered internationally.

It strikes me that the golden poison frog represents a real test of our willingness to save endangered species. It’s not cute, in my humble opinion. It’s not endearing. It could kill you—and nine of your friends.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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