Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The annual toad migration has started once more. As soon as it gets dark in Amsterdam, thousands of toads, salamanders and frogs go in search of water to reproduce but the short, life-threatening journey filled with obstacles might decimate the capital’s amphibian population.
“We mightn’t save them in time,” says urban ecologist Koen Wonders as he flashes a path on Flevoparkweg to the east. The crossing is dangerous : “Amphibians hibernate on dry land here on the Zeeburgerdijk in the leaves, under a stone or a piece of dead wood. In the spring it’s warmer, they wake up following hibernating for a few months and come here and crawl across the road to the water to breed.”
If the animals manage to avoid all the traffic, they will run into the next obstacle once on the other side. The curb. Not a problem for frogs, but toads and small newts are unlikely to overcome it. And that’s why Koen helps them cross the street, he says to AT5: “We pass by in the evening and transfer them to the water. In autumn, migration happens the other way around.”