Penza, 12 July 2017. PenzaNews. The researcher of the Privolzhskaya Forest Steppe nature reserve Vitaly Osipov together with the colleague from the Russian Academy of Sciences Ivan Bashinsky discovered abnormal animals during an expedition along dead channels of the Khoper river.

Photo press-service the Privolzhskaya Forest Steppe

Unusual finds were made in the Ostrovtsovskaya forest steppe. This is one of the reserve areas in the Kolyshleysky area.

“Examination of more than 130 objects of four types of amphibian revealed the following deviations: lake frog polydactyly, assemetrical Amelia of leveret fire-bellied toads, eye edema of spade-footed toads, eye hyperexantism of the moor frog, mandibular hypoplasia of lake frog leverets. In addition, for the first time in Russia, a mass case of P anomaly was found, and for the first time such anomaly was recorded in the pure – nonhybrid – population of the lake frog,” the press secretary of the Privolzhskaya Forest Steppe nature reserve told PenzaNews.

She clarified that it is the first time that such anomaly as eye hyperexantism of the moor frog was registered in the world.

Photo press-service the Privolzhskaya Forest Steppe

“It is most likely that the probable cause of such deviations lies in chemical contamination,” the agency interlocutor suggested.

Victoria Bekbulatova added that in order to more fully study this anomaly, an expert from Yoshkar-Ola arrived in the Penza region.

“According to the scientists, in any population there is a certain percentage of abnormality, but if it occurs on a massive scale, then it is a reason to think and start acting. That is why continuous monitoring is being carried out. Researchers regularly collect rare samples of abnormalities,” the agency interlocutor said.

She noted that eye hyperexantism of the moor frog is a new version of anomalies for amphibians. The uniqueness of the P anomaly is that in the territory of Russia it is found in the Penza nature reserve.