Monthly Archives: December 2010

My, my, what translucent skin you have!

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Hourglass tree frog (Hyla ebraccata)

Hourglass tree frog (Hyla ebraccata)

Cute Frog of the Week: December 27, 2010

This frog may look like a little like an hourglass, but we’re not so sure it can tell time. The hourglass frog gets its name from the hourglass shape that you can usually see on the frog’s back. Its translucent skin changes color depending on the time of day and the stress the frog is experiencing. These amphibians are the most active at night but also love to hop around after a good rain. The female hourglass frogs get to pick their mate and together they travel to a secure place where they’ll lay their eggs above the water. Don’t let time run out, let’s help these guys out!

Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project.

Banded horned tree frog (Hemiphractus fasciatus) ALL-NEW frog ringtones: Download the hourglass tree frog’s call!

Like what you see here? Then hop to it and text “FROG” to 20222 to give $5 to save a frog today! (Find the privacy policy here.)

Happy Holidays!

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We are grateful for all of the support that we have received this year and look forward to another terrific year of saving some of Mother Nature’s most valuable gifts.

If you’re feeling in the holiday spirit, please consider giving frogs a little boost by:

  • Donating money to the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project. Even the smallest donation can help us provide a safe haven for frogs.
  • Text FROG to 20222 to give $5 to the project (message and data rates apply).  This campaign will be winding down soon, so be sure to hop to it now!
  • Help us spread the word, whether on Facebook, Twitter or at your holiday dinner party.
  • Plan a trip to Panama to volunteer for the project. You’ll play a pivotal role in saving amphibians and have the experience of a lifetime. Don’t believe us? Check out what former volunteers have had to say.

Happy holidays from the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project!

Cute, yes, but also terribilis…

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Golden poiston frog (Dendrobates terribilis)

Golden poison frog (Dendrobates terribilis)

Cute Frog of the Week: December 20, 2010

You might be tempted to pick up this little cutie, but don’t! The Latin name for the golden poison frog seems fitting—Phyllobates terribilis. The golden poison frog is the most poisonous of all poison dart frogs. Its golden skin, while pretty, is a warning sign to predators to stay away from its poisonous skin. Just how poisonous are these frogs, which are between an inch to 2 and a half inches long? Each poison golden frog has about 200 micrograms of poison in its body, and it takes just two micrograms to kill a human! In fact, Amerindian tribes have used the frog’s poison for their darts. Though deadly, researchers are currently exploring the use of the poisons for medications.

But don’t worry if you visit one at a Zoo! These frogs get their toxicity through the insects that they eat in the wild—and the insects get their toxicity from plants—so they are not toxic in captivity, where they are fed a different diet.

Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project.

Like what you see here? Then hop to it and text “FROG” to 20222 to give $5 to save a frog today! (Find the privacy policy here.)

Workshop in Chile targets the protection of the Chilean frog

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Workshop participants

About 30 government officials and biologists from both academia and national zoos joined Defenders of Wildlife's international conservation expert Alejandra Goyenechea to share ideas about how to conserve their Chilean frog. (Photo courtesy of Defenders of Wildlife)

Frogs all over the world are in trouble as the result of a number of challenges: Habitat destruction, over use, pollution, and as we all know, chytrid.  All of the rescue project’s partners are working on multiple fronts to save the frogs.

Defenders of Wildlife has zeroed in on the plight of the Chilean frog. This little green giant lurks in the temperate forests of Chile but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find.

The Chilean frog (known variously as Calyptocephalella gayi and Caudiverbera caudiverbera) is able to mask its relatively massive girth in the trees of the Andean foothills, thanks to its knobby back and splotchy verdant skin. But this nifty camouflage isn’t enough to save it from over-collection by locals who both eat the frog and sell them illegally to other countries.

What’s worse, Chilean frogs are losing habitat quickly in central Chile where growing urban centers are pushing the creatures out of their native homes. Agricultural runoff and other forms of water pollution also threaten the frogs’ ability to survive.

Chilean frog

Chilean frogs have seen a 30 percent decline in the population over the last ten years. (Photo courtesy of Jose Grau, Puerto Montt)

The result is a 30 percent decline in the population over the last ten years—an alarming drop-off that could spell disaster for this endemic species in the coming decades. Climate change could further accelerate their demise by raising water temperatures just a few degrees above what these cool-water creatures can tolerate.

Fortunately, the Chilean government has taken notice and is now enlisting conservation experts and biologists to come up with a plan to save Chilean frogs. The frogs were given “vulnerable” status by the Chilean government in 2008 and are already on the IUCN Red List, but no formal conservation plan has been adopted. Having such a plan in place is a requirement for listing under Appendix III of CITES, a move that would put a legal requirement  on foreign trade and help raise awareness.

On Nov. 23, Defenders’ international conservation expert Alejandra Goyenechea ran a day-long workshop in Santiago, Chile’s capital, to identify key threats to the species and brainstorm ways to protect the frogs’ future.

About 30 government officials and biologists from both academia and national zoos joined Alejandra to share ideas about how to conserve their Chilean frog. The group recommended changes to agricultural laws to limit water pollution and identified needs for further research and education. Officials from the Chilean agriculture ministry will use the information gathered from the workshop to write a conservation plan to be submitted to the CITES Secretariat.

—Cindy Hoffman, Defenders of Wildlife

This frog’s parenting methods may raise eyebrows.

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Horned marsupial frog (Gastrotecha cornuta)

Horned marsupial frog (Gastrotecha cornuta)

Cute Frog of the Week: December 13, 2010

When most people hear the word “marsupial,” images of leaping kangaroos and climbing koala bears immediately come to mind. Unlike these mammals, however, a horned marsupial frog (Gastrotecha cornuta) mom carries the weight of motherhood on her back—literally. After she lays eggs, her mate fertilizes them and gingerly places them in a stretchy pouch atop her back. Safely tucked away, their babies incubate, feeding off nutrients in the eggs and growing (…and growing! According to the IUCN, horned marsupial frogs have the largest amphibian eggs recorded, relative to body size). The young hatch while still in the pouch and emerge not as tadpoles, but as fully-formed froglets!

Native to the forests of Columbia, Ecuador and Eastern eanama, these endangered frogs’ populations are dwindling due to the rapid spread of chytrid fungus. Thanks to the efforts of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, scientists at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in the United States, El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center  and the Summit Zoo (both in Panama), have had success breeding future generations of these hard-working momma and papa frogs.

And check out this great BBC video about a marsupial frog in the same family!

Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project.

Like what you see here? Then hop to it and vote for the project to receive $25,000!

Geronimoooooooo!

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Chinese gliding frog (Polypedates dennysi)

Chinese gliding frog (Polypedates dennysi)

Cute Frog of the Week: December 6, 2010

Although no frogs can truly fly, the Chinese gliding frog (Polypedates dennysi) comes pretty close.  Making its home in southeastern China and Myanmar, this aerial acrobat (jumping juggernaut, aerial amphibian, floating frog) has enlarged webbing between its toes that acts like a parachute when its toes are spread out. This allows it to glide through the air (even banking and steering in mid-flight!) from tree to tree or land softly on the ground even when jumping from great heights. Pretty incredible!

Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project.

Like what you see here? Then hop to it and vote for the project to receive $25,000!

Vote to help the rescue project win $25,000

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Heska Corporation has selected a proposal from Dr. Eric Baitchman, Zoo New England Director of Veterinary Services, as a finalist for the $25,000 prize in the 2010 Inspiration in Action contest. If Baitchman wins, the money will go to the rescue project. (Photo credit: Zoo New England)

Helping to save amphibians from imminent extinction in Panama is just a click away. Heska Corporation selected a proposal from Dr. Eric Baitchman, Zoo New England Director of Veterinary Services, as a finalist for the $25,000 prize in the 2010 Inspiration in Action contest and online voting is underway.

If selected, the money will support the veterinary efforts of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation (PARC) Project. Voting is open to the public and the polls are open until 11:59 p.m. MST on Dec. 15, 2010. Visit www.heska.com/action to vote. Heska Corporation, a leading provider of veterinary diagnostic and specialty products, has a core focus on the companion animal market where it strives to provide high-value products and unparalleled customer support to veterinarians.

The mission of the PARC Project, of which Zoo New England is a partner, is to rescue amphibian species that are in extreme danger of extinction throughout Panama. This is a collaborative international project and the efforts and expertise are focused on establishing assurance colonies and developing methodologies to reduce the impact of the deadly amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, so that one day captive amphibians may be reintroduced to the wild.

As the lead veterinarian for this project, Dr. Baitchman is tasked with developing effective treatment protocols against the chytrid fungus, developing a preventative health and nutrition program for the long-term care of these animals, and training on-site biologists, zookeeper staff, volunteers, and other veterinarians in the principles of amphibian medicine and treatment. Urgent funding is needed for expensive medications used in treatment of chytrid, diagnostic testing, outfitting a laboratory space for diagnostic and treatment work, and travel expenses for veterinarians to Panama.

“This project serves as an example to other amphibian conservation initiatives around the world, particularly in its integrated approach to combine veterinary and conservation sciences,” said Baitchman.  “The benefits gained from the veterinary experience and knowledge obtained in working with this project will affect not only wild amphibian species, but will also enhance the profession’s ability to care for captive amphibians in practice, research, and educational collections.”

Inspiration in Action

Voting is open to the public and the polls are open until 11:59 p.m. MST on Dec. 15, 2010.

In the case of the global amphibian crisis, amphibian chytrid disease threatens the entire amphibian class, and in fact some species are disappearing rapidly and have not been seen in the wild in some time. The rate at which species are being lost in this single vertebrate class has not been seen on this planet since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

The PARC Project currently includes two captive assurance colony sites in Panama, at the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center, in El Valle de Anton, Panama, and at the Summit Zoo, in the Panama Canal Zone near Panama City, Panama. Experts from ZNE, Africam Safari, Panama’s Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Defenders of Wildlife, El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center, Houston Zoo, Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Summit Municipal Park have pooled their energy and resources to form the PARC Project to protect a number of species from complete loss.

Currently at the El Valle site, there are more than 900 animals from 12 different families, represented by 61 different species, including a national symbol of Panama, the Panamanian golden frog, Atelopus zeteki. At the Panama Canal Zone site, there are approximately 180 animals from two different families and eight different species.

Media only: Contact Brianne Barrett, 617-375-9700

An update from Summit Zoo

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Toad Mountain harlequin frogs

A pair of the project's Toad Mountain harlequin frogs (Atelopus certus) were in amplexus for about 100 days and recently produced a clutch of eggs. (Photo by: Jorge Guerrel, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project)

Hi amigos!

We are glad to give you the latest update on what is going on with our frogs here at the Panamanian Rescue and Conservation Project at the Summit Zoo in Panama. And we are going to start with some great news: After almost 100 days of a very long amplexus (from the latin “embrace,” amplexus is a form of pseudocopulation in which a male amphibian grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process), we have our very first Toad Mountain harlequin frog (Atelopus certus) clutch!

This is huge news especially since A. certus is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild and is classified as “endangered” by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Toad Mountain harlequin frog is an endemic species from the Darien region of eastern Panama and little is known about its reproductive and breeding behavior. From observations made here at the Summit Zoo in Panama, we have noticed some interesting behavior. For example, during amplexus, the male A. certus holds on to the female so tight that he won’t eat for three months or more. We are taking notes and paying attention to the smallest change in water quality and temperature in their tank to assure the largest number of juveniles possible.

La loma tree frog morph

The rescue project is the first ever to successfully breed the La loma tree frog. (Photo by: Jorge Gurrel)

The rest of the group is doing just fine. The La loma treefrog (Hyloscirtus colymba) tadpoles are growing and some have fully developed legs, though we still need to wait until they come out of the water and absorb the tail to place them in their new individual tanks. The baby Limosa harlequin frogs (Atelopus limosus) are bigger and stronger–they have been eating lots of springtails and we are making sure that UV light is always available to them to prevent any bone disease.

The male adults are calling very often, especially early in the morning for our diurnal species, such as the Pirre harlequin frog (Atelopus glyphus). The rest of the harlequin frogs, H. colymba and our single male Bob’s robber frog (Craugastor punctariolus) call to attract their females throughout the night, particularly when is raining. We are also testing a few ways to feed the big C. punctariolus so we can offer them a variety of food as part of their diet.

Thanks to our collaborators and volunteers for all their suggestions and new ideas.

That’s all for now, but we will continue to keep you updated. Thanks for your support!

-Angie Estrada, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project