For example, male fruit flies are reproducing less because of rising temperatures due to climate change.

Other animals such as bats or parrots change the size of their appendages such as their tail, ears or beak for the same reasons.

But one protected species of toad, known as the yellow-bellied toad, has instead managed to develop an incredible method of surviving the anthropogenic footprint on their natural habitat.

An international team of scientists studied this protected species in 67 populations across Europe over a 25-year period.

Their work, published in the journal PNAS, shows that toads in a human-modified habitat experience accelerated aging and lower survival rates as adults than they do in an environment not affected by human activity.

But the scientists also made a surprise discovery: in human-modified habitats, the higher mortality of adult toads is offset by increased reproduction.

“Increased recruitment in anthropogenic habitats fully offset reductions in adult survival, with the consequence that population growth rate in both habitat types was similar,” outlined the researchers.

“Our findings indicate that compensatory recruitment allows toad populations to remain viable in human-dominated habitats and might facilitate the persistence of other animal populations in such environments,” they concluded.