Precious Pirre

Pirre harlequin frog (Atelopus gylphus)

Pirre harlequin frog (Atelopus gylphus)

Cute Frog of the Week: July 30, 2012

This frog is ready to brighten your day! With bluish stripes and yellow feet this Pirre harlequin frog (Atelopus glyphus) is especially striking. Adults are brown and look like they have had Jackson Pollack splatter them with yellow paint. This critically endangered frog is found in protected areas in Colombia and Panama. While Pirre harlequin frogs live in tropical forestland, their tadpoles stay in swift-moving streams. These tadpoles have large suckers that help them cling onto underwater rocks and graze on diatoms and stream algae.

The Pirre harlequin frog is one of the rescue project’s priority rescue species. The program started with 20 pairs that have now bred twice and we now house 75 juvenile frogs like the one above. The project’s goal is to reach 500 frogs total with representation from each founding pair of animals, as chytrid and habitat loss continue to decimate the population in the wild, making individuals difficult to find. Frogs from the Atelopus genus are among the most threatened in the world.

Photo by Brian Gratwicke, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

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/