# General Topics > General Discussion & News > Press / News Items > Amphibian News Feeds >  Solving the mystery of the deformed frogs

## Frog News

*AJC's Frogroom (UK) February 22nd, 2011 12:17 PM: Solving the mystery of the deformed frogs*

 "For the last two decades, strange things have been happening to frogs. Some frog populations have high rates of limb deformities, while others have high incidences of what is known as 'intersex' — traits associated with both males and females, such as male frogs whose testes contain eggs. David K. Skelly, professor of ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, set out to discover what was causing these deformities, which some researchers were attributing to the use of an agricultural pesticide called atrazine. Skelly launched an experiment in ponds throughout Connecticut, studying frogs in four landscapes: forests, agricultural areas, suburbs, and cities. And what he found was surprising — the highest rates of deformities were not occurring in and around farmlands, but in cities and suburbs."

_Read more: Solving the mystery of the bizarre deformed frogs | guardian.co.uk_
*Full Blog Article*

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## iatakden

Thats just pathetic , you would think its healthier living in the city away from all the stuff put on plants . HMMMM

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## opistoglyph

Don't know anything about the sex characteristic situation, but I thought they had cleared up the limb thing as being caused by trematodes- the same parasites that cause duck itch. We have record numbers of waterfowl that migrate from one body of water to another spreading these parasites at such levels they have to close down public lake beaches for weeks at times (my daughter and I have both gotten duck itch in the Adirondacks).

We have noted over the past couple of decades that limb deformities become most noticeable to the public in high rainfall years. Skin pigment mutations (yellow, blue and piebald frogs) in drought or dry hot years. Not saying there's a correlation, just that they are most reported in the news and various local wildlife and animal control agencies in those years.

I know the sex characteristic thing is also present in marine fish in coastal areas, but if you really study the biology of marine fish, they seem to be pretty sexually versatile or confused to begin with.

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