Cute Frog of the Week to feature ARKive’s cutest frogs

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Lindsay

Riobamba marsupial frog (Gastrotheca riobambae)

This image of a Riobamba marsupial frog is ARKive Research Manager Dr. Verity Pitts' favorite frog photo in the ARKive collection. (© Pete Oxford / naturepl.com)

Every Monday morning we enjoy sharing with you a particularly adorable amphibian photo, complete with fun facts through our popular Cute Frog of the Week feature. Now, thanks to ARKive–a website containing an extensive collection of photos, videos, facts and updates about endangered species from all over the world–we’ll have even more diverse library of captivating images to share with you. We love that ARKive is helping educate individuals globally through images and wanted to share a Q&A we conducted with Dr. Verity Pitts, one of ARKive’s research managers a senior team member.

1. What was the primary objective for beginning ARKive? Now that it has become such a large site, has this objective changed?

ARKive was launched in 2003 and is an initiative of the international charity Wildscreen.

Wildscreen’s mission is to promote a greater understanding of the natural world, and the need for its conservation, using the emotive power of the very best wildlife films and photos.

A brainchild of the late Christopher Parsons OBE, former Head of the BBC Natural History Unit, and one of Wildscreen’s founders, ARKive was, and still is, a centralized multi-media library of the world’s endangered species.

ARKive not only communicates the wonders of the planet’s biodiversity, but it also provides a safe haven for almost 100,000 film clips and photos–for use by today’s generation and those of the future.

The ethos of ARKive remains true to its origins: providing unrivaled access for people from around the world to amazing imagery, unlocking the wonders of the natural world, in a bid to protect the planet’s precious flora and fauna.

2. What do you think that films and photos can uniquely do for conservation that other actions may not be able to accomplish?

Wildscreen’s Patrons have answered this question very eloquently:

“Natural history films are more than just entertainment. They provide a crucial insight into the world, from which so many of us are increasingly divorced. We cannot properly value what we do not know. I truly believe the films that Wildscreen cares for and promotes are major elements in the battle to protect our imperilled natural world.”
—Sir David Attenborough, world-renowned naturalist and broadcaster

“Books and lectures can do a lot to explain the facts of life on this planet, but films and photographs are better at stirring the imagination.”
—HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

3. What kind of audience does ARKive hope to reach? How does this affect the content that it hosts or shares?

Through ARKive, Wildscreen’s mission has always been to provide people from all walks of life free access to its amazing collection of educational and awe-inspiring content.

Wildlife imagery can be a powerful tool in the fight to combat biodiversity loss and to reconnect people with nature–no matter how young or old. ARKive reveals what species look like, what makes them special and why we should care. Whether in the classroom or lecture hall, at home or in the field, ARKive transcends boundaries, and can be used in numerous educational situations–both formal and informal.

We do tailor information for different audiences, and on ARKive visitors can explore content in lots of different ways–through scrolling galleries of stunning images; by habitats; countries and topics, such as climate change; to fun interactive games and activities.

The ARKive blog is a relatively new feature to ARKive, but it enables us to use the ARKive imagery in different ways, helping us: tell stories about threatened species in the news; publish featured articles; update our visitors with what’s new to ARKive; as well as entertain with quizzes and games.

4. We’re so grateful that you’re helping us out with our Cute Frog of the Week. How has ARKive been able to work with and promote conservation organizations like ours?

Wildscreen recognizes the importance and value of building relationships and works in partnership with organizations from around the world on many different levels.

We believe that heightened public awareness to conservation issues translates into action, campaigning, lobbying and fundraising–all vital for protecting our most endangered species and habitats.

Through ARKive, Wildscreen is able to promote and support the efforts of conservation organizations working on the ground in a bid to save a huge variety of species.

5. ARKive has worked in cooperation with the Smithsonian and Google Earth. What future projects or objectives does Wildscreen hope to accomplish?

Reaching new audiences and engaging more people with the importance of biodiversity is an ongoing priority, whether this is by developing new resources and activities, via outreach programmes and new technologies, or of course through partnership working.

Wildscreen will continue to build on current partnerships and encourage new collaborations to enable additional access to ARKive through multiple third party platforms to reach even greater audiences.

6. What type of reaction do you hope that visitors to ARKive’s site have when browsing through the images?

Wildscreen’s aim is to open the window onto the natural world through its ARKive project. The charity works with the world’s finest photographers, filmmakers, scientists and conservationists to bring scientific names to life.

By inspiring people to care for the natural world and its many wonders, Wildscreen hopes to motivate visitors to become involved in the conservation movement, whether on a local or global level.

7. What do you enjoy most about the work you do at ARKive?

There are now more than 75,000 photos on the ARKive website and each of these has been hand-picked by one of our researchers. We only select the ‘best’ images for each species, which are either engaging portrait shots or shots that tell the story of the species’ life history. However, for some species only a few images exist and tracking these down is a very rewarding task.

Having worked on the ARKive project for nearly eight years, I still enjoy learning about new species and seeing the stunning imagery that is pouring into the office from around the world.

Press release: Smithsonian Scientists Find Deadly Amphibian Disease in the Last Disease-free Region of Central America

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Lindsay

Toad Mountain harlequin frog (Atelopus certus)

The Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project has established an assurance colony for two species endemic to the Darien, including the Toad Mountain harlequin frog (Atelopus certus), shown here. (Brian Gratwicke, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)

Smithsonian scientists have confirmed that chytridiomycosis, a rapidly spreading amphibian disease, has reached a site near Panama’s Darien region. This was the last area in the entire mountainous neotropics to be free of the disease. This is troubling news for the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, a consortium of nine U.S. and Panamanian institutions that aims to rescue 20 species of frogs in imminent danger of extinction.

Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or even extinctions of amphibian species worldwide. Within five months of arriving at El Cope in western Panama, chytridiomychosis extirpated 50 percent of the frog species and 80 percent of individuals.

“We would like to save all of the species in the Darien, but there isn’t time to do that now,” said Brian Gratwicke, biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and international coordinator for the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project. “Our project is one of a few to take an active stance against the probable extinction of these species. We have already succeeded in breeding three species in captivity. Time may be running out, but we are looking for more resources to take advantage of the time that remains.”

The Darien National Park is a World Heritage site and represents one of Central America’s largest remaining wilderness areas. In 2007, Doug Woodhams, a research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, tested 49 frogs at a site bordering the Darien. At that time, none tested positive for the disease. In January 2010, however, Woodhams found that 2 percent of the 93 frogs he tested were infected.

“Finding chytridiomycosis on frogs at a site bordering the Darien happened much sooner than anyone predicted,” Woodhams said. “The unrelenting and extremely fast-paced spread of this fungus is alarming.”

The Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project has already established captive assurance colonies in Panama of two priority species endemic to the Darien—the Pirre harlequin frog (Atelopus glyphus) and the Toad Mountain harlequin frog (A. certus). In addition, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo maintains an active breeding program for the Panamanian golden frog, which is Panama’s national animal. The Panamanian golden frog is critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and researchers have not seen them in the wild since 2008.

Chytridiomycosis is a rapidly spreading amphibian disease that attacks the skin cells of amphibians (shown here) and is wiping out frog species worldwide. (Doug Woodhams, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

“We would like to be moving faster to build capacity,” Gratwicke said. “One of our major hurdles is fundraising to build a facility to house these frogs. Until we jump that hurdle, we’re limited in our capacity to take in additional species.”

Nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species are at risk of extinction. While the global amphibian crisis is the result of habitat loss, climate change and pollution, chytridiomycosis is at least partly responsible for the disappearances of 94 of the 120 frog species thought to have gone extinct since 1980.

“These animals that we are breeding in captivity will buy us some time as we find a way to control this disease in the wild and mitigate the threat directly,” said Woodhams, who was the lead author of a whitepaper Mitigating Amphibian Disease: strategies to maintain wild populations and control chytridiomycosis. This paper, published in Frontiers in Zoology, systematically reviews disease-control tools from other fields and examines how they might be deployed to fight chytrid in the wild. One particularly exciting lead in the effort to find a cure is that anti-chytrid bacteria living on frog skin may have probiotics properties that protect their amphibian host from chytrid by secreting anti-fungal chemicals. Woodhams recently discovered that some Panamanian species with anti-chytrid skin bacteria transmit beneficial skin chemicals and bacteria to their offspring. The paper, Social Immunity in Amphibians: Evidence for Vertical Transmission of Innate Defenses, was published in Biotropica in May.

“We are all working around the clock to find a cure,” Gratwicke said. “Woodhams’ discovery that defenses can indeed be transferred from parent to offspring gives us hope that if we are successful at developing a cure in the lab, we may find a way to use it to save wild amphibians.”

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute serves as an umbrella for the Smithsonian Institution’s global effort to understand and conserve species and train future generations of conservationists. Headquartered in Front Royal, Va., SCBI facilitates and promotes research programs based at Front Royal, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and at field research stations and training sites worldwide.

# # #

Media only: contact Lindsay Renick Mayer, Smithsonian’s National Zoo, 202-633-3081

This time, it is not good to be a leader

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Lindsay

Atelopus varius is just one of many species of frog that is critically endangered. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project).

Chytrid fungus is believed to have played a role in the disappearance of 94 of the 120 frog species thought to have gone extinct since 1980. But that is not the only battle frogs are facing in the fight to survive.

No one issue can explain all of the population declines that are occurring at an unprecedented rate, and much faster in amphibians than most other animals, the scientists conclude in a study just published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

The totality of these changes leads these researchers to believe that the Earth is now in a major extinction episode similar to five other mass extinction events in the planet’s history. And amphibians are leading the field – one estimate indicates they are disappearing at more than 200 times that of the average extinction rate.

In this case, it is not good to be the leader.

—Cindy Hoffman, Defenders of Wildlife

A sad story with a golden glimmer of hope

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Lindsay

: Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki)

Cute Frog of the Week: May 2, 2011

Critically endangered since 2004, the endemic Panamanian golden frog has suffered a population decline of 80 percent over the last 10 years. An angular, dark yellow frog with a trademark swagger, the golden frog is a symbol of Panama’s abundant biodiversity. It is also well-known for its potent skin toxins, which it uses to protect itself against predators. A single frog’s skin contains enough nerve-disabling poison to kill 1,200 mice! Frequently found in and around high mountain forest streams, the golden frog in its golden-yellow, liberally spotted morph (individuals come in various colors and patterns) visually warns potential predators to stay away.

Despite its toxicity, the frog has found itself nearly defenseless against chytridiomycosis, the amphibian disease epidemic that has recently devastated frog populations and biodiversity throughout Central America. Because the range of this frog species is limited, extinction seems all too likely, unless human intervention succeeds in keeping the species around in captivity. Fortunately, an in-situ conservation program in western Panama (the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center, aptly named EVACC) has led the conservation effort as part of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project.

Frog declines raise a number of fascinating questions. For example, recent studies have shown that Panamanian golden frogs are making a last-ditch attempt to ward off infection by thermally killing the pathogen. Fortunately, researchers believe that the chytrid fungus does not thrive at temperatures 5 C above the frog’s normal body temperature. The frog attempts to increase its body temperature above normal levels by moving within its habitat to warmer places. As an ectotherm (a cold-blooded animal), the frog can only control its internal temperature by these behavioral adjustments to its external environment. Nonetheless, these efforts by wild golden frog populations may by in vain. Chytridiomycosis has so far prevailed, but intense conservation efforts in Panama keep hope alive. Panama’s symbol of amphibian beauty continues to awe humans in safe environments like EVACC. Re-introduction of these individuals and any offspring into the wild will, we are assured, only take place if and when the epidemic has abated.

Photo credit: Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Every week the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project posts a new photo of a cute frog from anywhere in the world with an interesting, fun and unique story to tell. Be sure to check back every Monday for the latest addition.

Send us your own cute frogs by uploading your photos here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/cutefrogoftheweek/

Notes from the Field: Finding the Limosa harlequin frog

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Lindsay

Jenyva shows off an Atelopus limosus the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo team captured during the February expedition. (Photo courtesy of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo)

Wanted: Adventurous expedition members to hike into the jungles of Panama looking for the rare Atelopus limosus. Must be willing to hike long hours in rugged, muddy terrain and in thigh-deep water, and ready to be wet, hungry, tired, and not afraid of spiders, snakes, scorpions, and lots of insects.

SIGN ME UP!!!

How could I pass up an opportunity to hike, explore, and camp in the jungle, all while helping save a species? This February was my first trip to Panama, however I followed the blog posts from other Cheyenne Mountain Zoo team members during previous expeditions to Panama, so I felt like I had already been there. I knew it was going to be a challenging trip, both physically and mentally. Would we find frogs? That was my biggest concern. As we all know, the chytrid fungus is taking its toll on frog populations around the world and the rare Atelopus limosus is not immune to chytrid’s deadly sting.

Atelopus limosus was our target species since the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project only had one female and four males in captivity. The future of the species appeared to depend on our findings. It was the “dry season” in Panama (although, being from Colorado, rain every day does not seem very “dry”!) and therefore, was the best time to find females, as they would be coming down to the streambeds to lay their eggs. The males would be there waiting.

We hiked along the stream and carefully searched the moss-covered rocks for the small, highly camouflaged black and green frogs. It was tough to be quiet and sneak up on our target as we sloshed around streambeds, stepped over branches, and slipped on rocks. We paid especially close attention to areas of the stream where the water moved a little faster. Atelopus limosus lay their eggs in faster-moving water to reduce competition from other frog species and reduce predation. The tadpoles are specially designed with little suction cup disks on their bellies to help them hold onto the rocks and keep them from being washed away. Pretty cool!

Our team found just four Atelopus limosus during our time in the field, but we were able to give hope to the species as one of those caught was a young female. We handed off our precious cargo to the capable staff at the Summit Zoo, who take their job and role in frog conservation very seriously. They are working hard to care for and propagate many other amphibian species besides Atelopus limosus to ensure the sounds of frogs continue to be heard in the jungles of Panama.

Here’s a video of Antonia Chastain, a member of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo team, finding out first-hand how difficult it is to catch an Atelopus limosus during the February trip:

—Jenyva Turner, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo animal keeper (and first-time frog finder!)

In the Field, In Search of a Cure

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Lindsay

Researcher Denise Küng is using emerald glass frogs and rocket frogs (shown here with tadpoles) in Panama to see if she can develop a treatment for chytrid. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project)

What comes to your mind when you think about bacteria? They are generally feared as disease agents among humans, but they do much more than cause infections. It seems like mutualistic microbial communities are common in invertebrates as well as vertebrates. Humans, with more than 600 types of bacteria residing only in their mouth, are no exception. Several cooperating bacteria can develop biofilms and create a matrix of living cells and bacterial products, and the community structure of microbes on a host could be connected with resistance to disease. Let’s say a bacterial community is disturbed by antibiotics and its competitiveness is thus reduced, then pathogens can exploit this and establish themselves in a host.

The skin of amphibians is host to a diverse microbiota. They live in damp or aquatic habitats which are potentially pathogen-rich environments. As protection against infections, amphibians developed skin defenses, such as antimicrobial peptides secreted by glands in their skin and microbial communities with antimicrobial activity. By doing bacteria removal and additional experiments, scientists found evidence for enhanced or decreased amphibian health depending on alterations of the microbial community structure on the skin. In some amphibian species, antimicrobial peptides seem to provide protection from infectious diseases such as the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and may help to prevent population declines.

Denise hopes to find a treatment for frogs in nature so they can safely coexist with chytrid. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project)

To find out more about the bacterial communities and antimicrobial peptides on the skin of amphibians, I’m currently in Panama working with the Panamanian rocket frog, Colostethus panamensis, and emerald glass frog, Centrolene prosoblepon. I’m going to look at their skin microbiota and how it changes after several weeks living in captivity. Will it stay the same or are some members of the bacterial community getting lost?

By giving some of the rocket frogs a bath in a solution with bacteria, I’m trying to increase the density of a particular bacterium on their skin. This bacterium has been shown to decrease the growth of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in the lab. If it’s possible to amplify its density on amphibian skin over a long period of time, this might be a possible treatment for frogs in nature to allow them to coexist with the pathogen in infected environments.

The emerald glass frogs seem to be able to survive in environments infected with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. They must have found a form of protection from the fungus on their skin. I am taking a closer look at the antimicrobial peptides on their skin. I also bathed them in water every day for a week and then used their skin washes to treat another group of the rocket frogs with the hope that whatever protects the glass frogs from the fungus will go in the water and from there onto the skin of the rocket frogs. Analyzing the skin swabs of the frogs in the lab will show whether this treatment changed the rocket frog skin microbiota, antimicrobial petides or both.

—Denise Küng, University of Zurich

Snakes where frogs should be!

Posted on February 24, 2011 by admin

As the fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, wipes out frogs and other amphibians across Panama, snakes appear to be more common than previously—but are they really, and will they last?

Chad Montgomery took this photo of an eyelash viper, Bothriechis schleglii, eating a frog in El Cope, Panama, one of the most studied frog decline sites here.

Panama’s ongoing “Amphibian Armageddon” completely changes who eats whom—aka the food chain—near the highland tropical streams where frogs and amphibians used to abound.

Researchers from the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project’s latest expedition to Cerro Brewster in Central Panama report that where the frogs used to be, they are now seeing snakes—deadly eyelash vipers, to be exact.

This weekend my family was visiting from the United States and we ventured out on my favorite easy day trip from Panama City–a drive up to El Valle, a little town nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano.

Our first stop was El Nispero, a small private zoo, home to the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center, EVACC, a project initiated by the Houston Zoo with some logistical support from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

EVACC is housed in a new building—with a beautiful small exhibit about Panama’s endangered frogs where you can see one of the last remaining golden frogs, Atelopus zeteki—named for James Zetek, one of the founder’s of STRI’s Barro Colorado Island research station in the 1920’s.

Edgardo Griffith is pretty much the powerhouse behind EVACC. He was in the lab there and was kind enough to take a break to talk to me about the most recent rescue project trip up to Brewster Hill.

The last visit to Brewster, which also included a big group of people from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado, was in November, 2009. That team found a lot of frogs, but many of them were already infected with the fungus.

This time they found very few frogs, although they were psyched to have found a female Altelopus limosus, the Limosa harlequin frog, which the rescue project recently bred in captivity.

Instead they found a lot of snakes. Edgardo speculated that because there are fewer frogs it is not so much that there are more snakes, but that the snakes have to work harder to find frogs and are concentrated around the streams where a few frogs remain, so the team was just running into them more often. But without more careful work, it is hard to say.

Chad Montgomery, now a professor at Truman State University in Missouri, did his post-doctoral research with Karen Lips from the University of Maryland on the effects of amphibian declines on frog predators at El Cope, one of the most studied frog decline sites in Panama.

He told me: “In 2005, the first year following the amphibian decline, we saw a change in the snake community, with snake species that are more dependent on amphibians as food (such as Sibon and Leptodeira) becoming less common relative to those snake species that are not as reliant on amphibians as prey (such as Oxybelis and Dipsas).”

“The ecosystem can’t support the previously large snake community,” he said. “Ultimately, loss of amphibians probably causes local extinction of some snake species and severely reduced population sizes in those species that remain.”

According to Julie Ray, the director of the La Mica Biological Station in El Cope, it’s unusual to see so many eyelash vipers, which have declined in El Cope following the frog decline. Eyelash vipers feed on frogs, lizards, mice, etc. She also said that Fer de lance, Panama’s most poisonous snake, actually feed on dying and dead frogs.

One of the truths that the rescue project reveals is how little we still know about playing Noah. Many of Panama’s endangered frogs have never been studied in the wild or kept in captivity.

Not only do rescue project researchers have to figure out what frogs eat and what they need to survive and reproduce in a zoo, they still have no idea how their habitat will change as a result of the disease and when, if ever, it will be possible to reintroduce captive frogs back into the wild. We need to know much more about how frog extinctions change insect and animal communities…and that take precious time and money, which is why frog rescue projects need your support.

–Beth King, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

The Sixth Extinction in Motion

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Lindsay

Endangered species across the world have found allies in a neat partnership between MacQuarrie Byrne Films, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Tennessee. The idea behind the Sixth Extinction in Motion project is to use communication/graphic design to play an active role in changing the course of history, specifically in curbing the terrifyingly rapid extinction rate. According to the Sixth Extinction’s blog, “Communication designers have the power to persuade, educate and inform populations of people on the massive dying-off of our planet.”

While the students involved in the project have created a number of really impressive and compelling videos, we were, of course, most interested in their four frog videos. We are thankful to the students who designed these as they are generously helping us promote the rescue project. Those videos are below, with a brief Q&A by each student who created them. Once you’ve watched these, make sure to check out more of their work here.

Future Generations by Trista Busch (University of Tennessee)

Where did you come up with the idea for your video?
After extensive research into the initial problem of the endangerment of amphibians, I decided to focus on the most prevalent and immediate issues affecting the species. Pollution and environmental problems are occurrences that we can all combat, or support research for the fight against the extinction of such important creatures to our ecosystem. Because frogs are a cherished part of my childhood, I decided to focus my efforts on illustrating the destructiveness of pollution on our children’s future memories, and how that in turn will affect the outcome of our efforts.

Why is it important to get this message out there?
Misinformation of existing environmental issues is almost more detrimental than ignorance. Spreading knowledge is the first step in the right direction. Without being well informed, we are not able to recognize and address the problem.

What was the most surprising thing that you learned in your research?
Well, one third of the amphibian populations are endangered! If amphibians were to go extinct the occurrence would be the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs.

What do you hope people take away from your video?
I can only hope that people feel a sense of urgency in this pressing matter and at least walk away a little more informed and motivated to contribute.

Vanishing by Samia Ahmed (Carnegie Mellon University)

Where did you come up with the idea for your video?

After spending time researching frogs and their extinction, I became very aware of the lack of frogs in my life–the last time I remember hearing the sound of a frog in the wild was in elementary school. I wanted to focus on that iconic sound because it is something immersive that hopefully lets the viewer “feel” the loss of frog populations as opposed to just reading about it.

Why is it important to get this message out there?

I think it’s important to learn about things like this because the more time I spend learning about animal extinction, the more I see how our actions on a personal level of simply conserving energy and resources, as well as on government level of policy and regulation have far reaching results, a lot of which are the destruction of life.

What was the most surprising thing that you learned in your research?

I was most surprised at learning about the alarming rate of loss for frog populations. It’s so easy to not see the things we are losing until they are gone.

What do you hope people take away from your video?

I hope that people remember that there is a bigger picture out there and that there are complexities to the results of our actions whether we intend them or not.

When Frogs are Gone by Janeane Robinson (University of Tennessee)

Where did you come up with the idea for your video?
I wanted to base my video on plain facts. Since it’s not a problem that not many are familiar with, it’s the facts that hit the hardest. The decision to show no actual frogs or amphibians and just focus on type and audio was an easy one for me. I’ve always liked the audio aspect of videos and how haunting it can be. The sound of frogs is somewhat nostalgic for most people and I wanted to play on this.

Why is it important to get this message out there?
It’s important for people to realize that their actions, and sometimes inactions, do have affects on others. I believe that every living thing has a purpose–one that we might not even be aware of yet. When we start making decisions with no regard to life, everything starts to break down. Everything is connected, and when one life is taken it sets off a chain reaction. Our only hope for a future is taking care of the lives we have in the present.

What was the most surprising thing you learned in your research?
Never would I have guessed that frogs, and the entire amphibian race, were going extinct. It’s something that never crossed my mind or was ever brought to my attention. When I started researching, I was shocked at how large and widespread this problem actually is. This is the biggest obstacle. Once more people become familiar with the problem, we have a chance to fix it.

What do you hope people take away from your video?
I hope that this brings awareness to the people, who like me, don’t even realize there’s a problem. Awareness is the first step in solving a problem, but I feel it’s also the easiest. It’s much harder to move people to take responsibility for behaviors and actions that may be affecting others. However, by planting a little seed of awareness, I hope it pushes people to making more conscious decisions.

Green-Eyed Frogs by Frances Soong (Carnegie Mellon University)

Where did you come up with the idea for your video?
From the start, I had been fascinated by the fact that frogs are so sensitive to the changes in their surroundings as they breathe and absorb toxins through their skin—acting as the new “canaries in the coal mine.” I wanted to make sure my video made that connection between frogs and the world and conveyed the idea that a “sick frog” meant a “sick world.”

Why is it important to get this message out there?
There are a lot of animals and ecosystems dying and in need of saving (as you can see by looking at the videos from the rest of our classes), but I think this direct connection they have with their environment is unique to frogs and other amphibians. It makes them all that more significant too.

What was the most surprising thing that you learned in your research?
The most surprising thing was definitely finding out how low the numbers actually were for the frog population, especially when compared to the number of people on this planet. Other things like causes for the frog and amphibian population declines was a lot harder to pinpoint… at some point I was totally sure chytrid fungus was the cause of everything and then I looked into the causes of that… it’s a never-ending process.

What do you hope people take away from your video?
In my video, I basically tell people to consume less, stop using cars, and to stop wasting energy and resources to save the frogs. But even if you didn’t think frogs were that cute or that saving them was that important before, I hope that knowing how frogs fit in the larger picture of the world will motivate more people to want to do learn more and do more in general.

—Lindsay Renick Mayer, Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Workshop in Chile targets the protection of the Chilean frog

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Lindsay

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 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

Rescue Project First to Breed Critically Endangered Tree Frog

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Lindsay

The Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project has successfully bred the endangered Limosa harlequin frog, Atelopus limosus. (Credit: Angie Estrada, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project)

As frogs around the world continue to disappear—many killed by a rapidly spreading disease called chytridiomycosis, which attacks the skin cells of amphibians—one critically endangered species has received an encouraging boost. Although the La Loma tree frog, Hyloscirtus colymba, is notoriously difficult to care for in captivity, the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project is the first to successfully breed this species.

“We are some of the first researchers to attempt to breed these animals into captivity and we have very little information about how to care for them,” said Brian Gratwicke, international coordinator for the project and a research biologist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, one of nine project partners. “We were warned that we might not be able to keep these frogs alive, but through a little bit of guesswork, attention to detail and collaboration with other husbandry experts—we’ve managed to breed them. The lessons we’re learning have put us on target to save this incredible species and our other priority species in Panama.”

The rescue project currently has 28 adult La Loma tree frogs and four tadpoles at the Summit Municipal Park outside of Panama City, Panama. In addition to the La Loma tree frog, the project also has successfully bred the endangered Limosa harlequin frog, Atelopus limosus. Keepers will continue to carefully monitor the tadpoles of both species.

Although the La Loma tree frog, Hyloscirtus colymba, is notoriously difficult to care for in captivity, the rescue project is the first to successfully breed this species. (Credit: Brian Gratwice, Smithsonian's National Zoo)

Nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species are at risk of extinction. The rescue project aims to save more than 20 species of frogs in Panama, one of the world’s last strongholds for amphibian biodiversity. While the global amphibian crisis is the result of habitat loss, climate change and pollution, chytridiomycosis is likely at least partly responsible for the disappearances of 94 of the 120 frog species thought to have gone extinct since 1980.

“Although the outlook for amphibians is grim, the rescue project’s recent developments give us hope for these unique Panamanian species,” said Roberto Ibáñez, local director of the project and a scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, one of the project’s partners. “We are creating what amounts to an ark for these animals so that their species may survive this deadly disease. We’re also looking for a cure so that someday we can safely release the frogs back into the wild.”

Of Panama’s six harlequin frog species, five are in collections at the Summit Zoological Park and the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center in El Valle, Panama. One species, the Chiriqui harlequin frog, A. chiriquiensis, from western Panama, is likely extinct. The other species range from being extinct in the wild—the Panamanian golden frog, A. zeteki—to being endangered.

The mission of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project is to rescue amphibian species that are in extreme danger of extinction throughout Panama. The project’s efforts and expertise are focused on establishing assurance colonies and developing methodologies to reduce the impact of the amphibian chytrid fungus so that one day captive amphibians may be reintroduced to the wild. Project participants include 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, Summit Municipal Park and Zoo New England.