Clawed Frogs and Surinam Toads: Pipidae

Of the 30 species in this family, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) considers one to be Critically Endangered, which means that it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild; two to be Endangered and facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild; and one to be Near Threatened, which places it at risk of becoming threatened with extinction in the future. It also views seven other species as Data Deficient, a category that means the IUCN does not have enough information to make a judgment about their threat of extinction.

The Critically Endangered species is the Lake Oku clawed frog, which lives in a single lake in western Cameroon. The lake currently has no fish in it to prey on the frogs, but conservationists fear that an introduced fish might find its way into the lake and possibly wipe out the entire frog species. The two Endangered species are the Myers' Surinam toad and Gill's plantanna (also known as the Cape clawed toad or Cape plantanna). Myers' Surinam toad lives in a small area in Panama, and Gill's plantanna lives in a tiny part of southwestern South Africa. Habitat loss is a threat to both species. In addition, water pollution appears to be hurting the Myers' Surinam toad.