There is a lot of media coverage out there about the dire situation of the endangered Houston toad since a wildfire swept through its last stronghold, Bastrop State Park, 30 miles southeast of Austin, Texas. However, an article in the San Antonio News-Express points out that in the heat of the summer the toads burrow a foot or more underground to escape the heat. There is a chance that the toads were far enough underground when the fire swept through that they were insulated from the heat of the fire.

The article explains that it’s not the fire as much as the fragmented landscape that may seal the toad’s doom. The Houston toad is listed as endangered both federally and in Texas.

Read the San Antonio News-Express article here.

Read info on the Houston toad from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department here.

(Yes, that’s two toad stories in a row. Sometimes it works out that way.)

Photo courtesy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.