On Thursday, scientists in Indonesia announced the discovery of a special frog (青蛙) that has no lungs (肺) and takes breath through its skin. Researchers believe that the little animal could provide some information about how environment can cause some animals to change so greatly over time.
The frog was found by a scientific research team in a faraway part of Indonesia last summer. And the team was led by David Bickford, a biologist at the National University of Singapore. The special animal is the world's first known lungless frog species (物种). Only a few amphibians have been found lungless. "These are about the most ancient andbizarrefrog you can get on the earth." Bickford says.
Frogs' living environment has been polluted by chemicals from farming. And the team believes it's possible that the frog may have changed in order to move fast, and stay alive in the cold and oxygen-poor rivers in which it lives. The team adds that this "extreme change" was probably necessary to make the frog lose the ability to float (漂浮). That way, it could avoid being swept down the mountain rivers.
Scientists say that the new discovery has made it more important to protect the frog's river living environment. In the last few years, illegal (非法的) tree cutting and gold mining have caused the once-clean waters to turn brown with pollution.
"The gold mining is completely illegal and small size," Bickford says. "But when there are thousands of them on the river, it really has a great influence. Very soon the frog will be out of the river."
