Spadefoot Toads: Pelobatidae

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) considers one species to be Endangered, which means that it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services does not list any species as being at risk. The IUCN Endangered species is Varaldi's spadefoot toad, which lives in a few small areas in Morocco in northwestern Africa. Like many other spadefoot toads, it lives mainly underground in sandy soils, but comes on land to mate in puddles and pools of water. As humans farm in areas where the frog lives, the soil is beginning to pack down, which makes the frog's digging more difficult, and new pollutants are entering the watering holes. Both are likely hurting the frogs. In addition, some frogs are able to breed in larger ponds that are filled with water all year, but these ponds often are also home to fishes that eat the frogs.

Although no other species is considered to be at risk, some populations, including Couch's spadefoot toad, appear to be disappearing due to pollution and/or habitat destruction.