
In 1999, scientists finally put a name to one of the most devastating pandemics you’ve probably never heard of: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , or Bd—the amphibian chytrid fungus. By the time it had a name, it had already triggered one of the largest mass extinction events in recorded biological history. Bd has been linked to the decline or extinction of over 500 amphibian species, with at least 90 species likely wiped out entirely.