One of Bermuda's two species of Whistling Tree Frogs is probably already extinct while one in five of the Island's toads are deformed.

These are the shocking statistics on the declining health of Bermuda's amphibians that are emerging from the work of two scientists on the Bermuda Amphibian Project.

Dr. Don Linzey is working out of Virginia along with locally-based Dr. Jamie Bacon on the project which is not only cataloguing the health problems of local amphibians but also struggling to decipher what is causing them.

Dr. Linzey told The Royal Gazette earlier this week that one of the two tiny whistling frog species which were accidentally introduced to the Island around 1900 -- Eleutherodactylus Gossei -- has not been seen since 1995.

"We can't come out and say it's extinct,'' he said. "But no one has seen one in a long time and we've been looking extremely hard for it.'' Dr. Linzey said E. Gossei used to be found in the central parishes -- Devonshire, Paget, Pembroke and Warwick.

It is distinguishable from its still prevalent relative by its smaller toepads and orange colouring on the inner thigh of the hind legs. E. Gossei was also known to lived close to the ground, as opposed to five to 10 feet off the ground.

Equally disturbing is the rate of deformity in Bermuda's toads. Over 20 percent of adult toads are deformed. And the situation is even more shocking for newly formed toads -- roughly 35 percent of which are deformed.

The toads are emerging with missing or extra limbs, misshapen limbs, missing or extra toes and missing and oddly placed eyes.

And, while amphibian populations are in serious trouble all over the world, Dr. Linzey took a research trip to Peru in December, where the same species of toad Bermuda has also lives, and found dramatically lower incidence levels of deformity.

The Peruvian toads had a deformity rate of seven percent -- one third the Bermuda rate.

In order to try and determine what is harming the health of the Island's amphibians, the scientists are looking at diet, water and soil samples and tissues samples from affected animals.

Dr. Linzey said one of the greatest concerns related to the findings so far is the level of pesticides being detected.

He said that DDE, a breakdown product of banned pesticide DDT, has been found in all the soil samples taken at 15 research sites across the Island and also in the amphibians' major food sources -- cockroaches, ants, spiders, sow bugs and centipedes.

Dr. Linzey said that DDE is also a breakdown product of the pesticide Kelthane which is still being used in Bermuda. "What's really scary is how these pesticides are being mixed before they are put out,'' he said.

DDT has also been detected in soil samples as well as Deildrin -- a pesticide which has been tied to cancer in some countries.

At this point, however, Dr. Linzey said the study has yet to reach a conclusion to what exactly is killing and deforming Bermuda's amphibians.

Factors such as acid rain and global pollution levels must also be examined.

But he has an answer for those who wonder how concerned people should really be about the health of amphibians. "Scientists feel that whatever is affecting the amphibians today could start to affect other species in 10 to 15 years,'' he said. "Other species which include people.'' People interested in assisting the Bermuda Amphibian Project can make donations to the project through the Bermuda Aquarium or by contacting Marsha Andrew at 292-3732.

Pesticides blamed: Dr. Donald Linzey says environmental factors influencing amphibians will eventually impact humans as well.