For example, these chemicals enter through the skin of animals, through the water they drink, through their mother's milk, and through their diets by consuming other animals that are contaminated by toxins. Frogs and other species of wildlife that live their whole lives or large parts of their lives in water absorb the chemicals through their skins. Amphibians are especially at risk here because they have thin skins and these contaminants easily pass through this barrier. Animals higher in the food chain are exposed to even greater numbers of toxic chemicals due to their diets. This process is a process called bioaccumulation .
All wildlife is vulnerable to toxic chemicals found in water some more than others.
From the frogs that absorb the chemicals through their thin skins to birds of prey that accumulate these toxins through bioaccumulation, the toxins manage to invade the system's of all animals. For many species higher on the food chain, such as the Bald Eagle and Osprey, toxic chemicals enter their systems through their diets by what we call bioaccumulation. This is when wildlife higher in the food chain receive increased doses of these toxins. This simply means that the higher an animal is on the food chain the more of these toxins they'll have stored in their bodies. The reason for this is that these toxic chemicals don't break down in animal's systems, but rather are stored in our fat tissues.