Military training bases are the last place you’d expect endangered species to flourish, right? Well not according to leading ecologist Steven Warren of Colorado State University, who recently did a study of U.S. training bases in Germany, and surprisingly found them to be excellent habitat for many threatened species. According to [email protected], Warren determined that although the German bases represent less than 1% of the region’s land, they contain 22% of its endangered species. This is because the land is uncultivated, but is also churned up by tank tracks and explosions. And that kind of land disturbance is just great for many species, like the natterjack toad, which like to breed in the water-filled ruts created by the passing tanks.