The golden toad of Costa Rica, whose beauty and rarity inspired an
unusual degree of human interest from a public generally unconcerned
about amphibians, may have been driven to extinction by human activity
nevertheless. In the United States, a public relations campaign
featuring the toad raised money to purchase and protect the toad’s
habitat in Costa Rica, establishing the Monteverde Cloud Forest
Preserve in 1972. Although this action seemed to secure the toad's
future, it is now apparent that setting aside habitat was not enough
to save this beautiful creature. The toad's demise in the late 1980s
was a harbinger of further species extinction in Costa Rica. Since
that time, another twenty of the fifty species of frogs and toads
known to once inhabit a 30 square kilometer area near Monteverde have
disappeared.


The unexplained, relatively sudden disappearance of
amphibians in Costa Rica is not a unique story. Populations of frogs,
toads, and salamanders have declined or disappeared the world over.
Scientists hypothesize that the more subtle effects of human
activities on the world's ecosystems, such as the build-up of
pollutants, the decrease in atmospheric ozone, and changing weather
patterns due to global warming, are beginning to take their toll.
Perhaps amphibians - whose permeable skin makes them sensitive to
environmental changes - are the "canary in the coal mine," giving us
early notification of the deterioration of our environment. If
amphibians are the biological harbingers of environmental problems,
humans would be wise to heed their warning.

The passage implies that
A. many amphibians are not considered beautiful.
B. the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve was not large enough to
protect the golden toad.
C only Costa Rican amphibians living near Monteverde have
disappeared since the 1980s.
D. amphibians sometimes live in coal mines.
E. no humans yet consider the decline of amphibious populations an
indication of a threat to human populations.


Regards,
Murali.

Kudos?

I agree. But, E is the most tempting wrong answer. isn't it?. How to eliminate E.