Meet the 'frog whisperer', who speaks to frogs and fears their silence

Frogs are increasingly at risk of going silent, due to climate change, water pollution, habitat loss, and fungus, among other factors. — AFP

Wading through a moonlit pond on Australia’s east coast talking to frogs makes Michael Mahony feel like a kid again.

The 70-year-old biology professor and conservationist at Australia’s University of Newcastle has mastered imitating and understanding the shrills, croaks and whistles of frogs. “Sometimes you forget to work because, you know, you just want to talk to the frogs for a while and it’s sort of good fun, ” Mahony told Reuters from a pond in Cooranbong, New South Wales.