Some of the most commonly-reported amphibian malformations are the absence of limbs or digits and occasionally missing eyes. In some cases, researchers have suggested that predators are responsible for these deformities. However, a closer look often reveals that large proportions of affected populations suffer from missing limbs, and in nearly all cases, missing limbs are not associated with scarring or other signs of wound repair. Often, limb malformations are so severe that they would have necessitated fatal trauma had they resulted from failed predation attempts. Additionally, controlled experiments have produced missing limbs and other malformations in the absence of predators, conclusively demonstrating that predators are not required to produce the types of malformations observed at field sites (Lannoo 2008). Therefore, although predation may be responsible for some missing limbs or digits in the wild, it is unlikely that predation alone explains the widespread malformation phenomena reported for many species.