Regular sauna bathing cleared the frogs of the fungal infection.
Sauna is good for the body and mind, we know that. However, the joys of Löyly are not limited to the recreation of human beings, as it has now been discovered that even frogs benefit from regular saunas. In fact, it is even vital to them.
This was found in Australia. Small saunas were built there for sick frogs, where they could relax. The heat cured them of a deadly skin disease.
A gratifying study recently appeared In the journal Nature.
Amphibians a fungal disease called chytridiomycosis threatens the whole world.
It has been spreading around the world for decades and has wiped out at least 90 species of amphibians. Batrachochytrium-the fungus begins to grow on the frog’s skin, and eventually meets the fate of the frog.
The fungus thrives in warm countries, but not too warm conditions. Above 25 degrees, the fungus stops growing, and at 30 degrees, it already starts to be destroyed. Inspired by this information, the researcher Anthony Waddle and his colleagues developed a sauna section for the frogs.
Researchers built small greenhouses outside and placed perforated bricks in them, inside which the frogs could hang out. The spa was decorated and refreshed with artificial plants and water. Inside the brick, in the sunshine, the temperature rose to over 40 degrees.
So it wasn’t a case of very thick slush, but this was enough to clean the frogs of the fungus. During the four-month experiment, the frogs that took good saunas recovered from the disease more often than those of their species that spent their time in cooler conditions.
Defeating the disease by sauna also gave them a considerable amount of resistance to subsequent infections.
As a test animal acted as a leaf frog Golden beaches. It can grow up to 11 centimeters, making it one of Australia’s largest frog species.
Fungal disease of frogs has not been detected in Finland so far, so there is no need to build frog saunas in the yard yet.
On the other hand, it is not known whether our local frog species would even be comfortable in a sauna.