The Interior Department released a cartoon featuring a frog mascot who exhorts citizens to join "Frog Force." The cartoon was produced as part of the inter-agency Task Force on Amphibian Declines and Deformities, which is devoted to solving the scientific mystery concerning frog mutations. In 1995, a Minnesota school field trip discovered that an unusual number of local frogs were deformed. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency spent millions investigating the issue, and concluded in 1997 that local well water was the culprit, but later admitted it was mistaken after frightening local residents into drinking bottled water.

Since then, scientists have offered speculative theories blaming both pesticides and ultraviolet radiation from ozone thinning (the latter despite a lack of increase in observed UV rates). Most recently, scientists identified a fungus called chytrid as a possible culprit, which they may have been inadvertently spreading by not washing their boots after stepping from one infected area to the next. Another theory blames a parasitic flatworm, which may cause a cyst in tadpoles that cause them to grow multiple hind legs. (The U.S. News & World Report later speculated that pesticide use could possibly be making the parasites more abundant.)

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