Goliath Frogs of the Congo Basin

The Congo Basin rainforest has been described as the world’s second pair of lungs after the Amazon Rainforest. Some people prefer to say the world’s other pair of lungs, given the extensive destruction that has been done to the Amazon Rainforest. Parts of the Amazon now emit more CO2 than they absorb.

Rainforests play a crucial role in regulating global temperatures. They absorb and sequestrate massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Recent studies have shown that the Congo Basin Rainforest has thousands of kilometres of peatlands that are still relatively intact. It cannot be over stated how important this asset is for humanity.

Rainforests also play another crucial role: they are home to many endangered species, some of which we probably do not know about yet. Many parts of the Basin have not been explored and so it is hard to estimate just how many species live there. Other ones that have been discovered are disappearing quickly due to logging or hunting by human beings.

Take the Goliath Frog (Conraua goliath) for example. This frog species exists only in Cameroon, in the southern part of the country, as well as in Equatorial Guinea. This is the northernmost part of the Congo Basin Rainforest. The Goliath frog is the biggest frog species in the world. It can weight anything between two and six kilograms, i.e. over the size of a human baby. Due to its high protein content, many communities along the edge of the forest have been hunting it for decades.

The Goliath frog starts out as a normal tadpole. However, it continues growing and getting bigger and bigger over the course of its life. The tadpoles eat plants endemic to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. As the frog gets bigger, its diet changes significantly to include other plants, frogs, insects and fish.

According to the Society for Conservation Biology, “Intensive farming practices, illegal hunting or fishing, deforestation and palm oil extraction near riverine habitats have led to steep population declines of goliath frogs over the years”.

The average human being will never get to see a Goliath frog in their lifetime. Not that this should be an important event, the point rather is to say that forests are home to millions of species that we have not yet discovered. Deforestation can potentially wipe out a big part of this legacy and so we need to do something to reverse this trend.

Encroachment into the habitat of endangered species imperil not just our ability to keep global temperatures at sustainable level, but also the possibility of discovering new things that can possibly help cure certain diseases.

Over 30% of medicines that we use have active ingredients that come from rainforests. This means that the more forest acreage we destroy, the higher the chances that we are going to destroy something that is crucial to our survival on earth.

One more thing: rainforests regulate water cycles. The ability to have rain, natural filtration systems and aquifers is another big reason why we need to protect the habitat of the Goliath frog.