Strange Death of Ancient Frogs in Prehistoric Swamp Solved, What Caused The Genocide?

A paleontological study held by a team from the University College Cork UCC discovered the strange reason why hundreds of ancient frogs died in a swamp. The fossils of the animals were victims of a prehistoric swamp that existed 45 million years ago. The only clue they had was that the event occurred during the mating of the frogs.

Geiseltal Site: Death Trap for Frogs

The death trap is located in central Germany's Geiseltal region. Fossil records show that the swamp killed approximately 50,000 animals such as bats, birds, fish, and frogs.

Due to the bizarre but tremendous amount of fossils and the geological formation of the area, scientists consider the Geiseltal site as one of the important windows to the unseen events that transpired during the early age of life of floras and faunas on the planet.

About 50 million years ago, during the Eocene period, experts theorize that the planet lived at a much higher temperature than today. Throughout this period, the Geieltal site was filled with inhabitants from different species of lizards, gigantic crocodiles, horses, large snakes, ground-dwelling birds, and other amphibians such as toads and frogs.

The strange death of the Geiseltal frogs was already investigated by other teams before. According to previous findings, hundreds of these animals died due to the depletion of oxygen from the water and the intense drought that removed the waters from the swamps. However, there is no sufficient evidence that narrows down the main reason for taking the lives of the frogs until now.

To check the probable cause, experts from the UCC examined the fossils of the frogs. Lead author Daniel Faik, a specialist at the university's School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, explained that the frogs were healthy when they died, and their bones did not show any signs of infection from scavengers, and predators PhysOrg reports.

Faik added that there were no indications that the frogs were washed off during a flood and died due to the absence of water from the swamp.

True Reason Why Ancient Frogs Died on the Swamp

The team confirmed that these frogs stay on land more than visiting waters, as they only utilize the swamps for their breeding. This leads to mating as the only clue that might have initiated the mass genocide of the frogs.

The odd phenomenon could be observed in some frog species that live today. UCC Environmental Research Institute expert and senior author of the study Maria McNamara, who served as senior author of the research, said that female frogs are at risk of death in the swamp during mating as they are exposed to situations that will drown them.

While they reproduce, the female frog individuals are more submerged underwater than the one or more males above them, a scene that usually occurs during their short but intense breeding season.

Fossil frogs from other sites show similar features, suggesting that the frog's mating process has not changed significantly over the generations since 45 million years ago.

The study was published in the Papers in Palaeontology, titled "The skeletal taphonomy of anurans from the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat-Lagerstätte, Germany: insights into the controls on fossil anuran preservation."

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