Wildlife News
June 2008
The Houston Zoo’s Panamanian Amphibian Conservation efforts continued through this spring with a number of field expeditions and some exciting news including a collecting trip with
Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin for the filming of a new documentary entitled
Vanishing Frogs which could air in this winter. For more information on amphibians and the Houston Zoo’s
Panamanian Amphibian Conservation Program, please go to
www.houstonzoofrogs.com
In early April, Edgardo Griffith, who oversees our Panama Amphibian Conservation Program and the Houston Zoo's Director of Conservation Bill Konstant traveled to Panama City to meet up with Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin and a television film crew from the Discovery Channel. Later this year, Discovery intends to air a one-hour documentary entitled Vanishing Frogs, a look at declining amphibian populations around the world with a focus on specific projects in Panama, Ecuador, Australia and the United States. The Houston Zoo’s El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center will be one of the featured projects. In addition to work at the Center itself, the documentary will also include footage of two field expeditions in search of harlequin frogs led by Edgardo Griffith, one to a site that has not yet been infected by the amphibian fungus and another that has already experienced serious population declines. During the filming schedule in Panama, Jeff Corwin and Edgardo were featured speakers at a press conference organized by Clorox and the advertising firm Fleishman-Hillard. Clorox is the principal underwriter of the documentary project and supporter of Amphibian Ark. The company also requested a proposal from the Houston Zoo to complete construction of the public exhibit area of EVACC.
Edgardo Griffith and Jeff Corwin search for amphibians in Panama's Cerro Brewster region.
Other fieldwork this season included trips to Parque Nacional Chagres, Sierra Llorona and El Cope
Parque Nacional Chagres- February
The team made two hikes into the site, one for six days and another for two. The trips were focused on collecting additional founders of the priority species, specifically Atelopus limosus and Gastrotheca cornuta. The teams returned with about 220 animals of 37 species. The normal abundance and diversity of amphibians would seem to indicate that chytrid has not yet infected that region.
Sierra Llorona Expedition- April
The team was looking for
Atelopus limosus, a small green-and-black species that was discovered in 1995 and inhabits the banks of briskly flowing, rocky mountain streams. Bill Konstant and Edgardo Griffith were looking for female frogs, specifically, since the captive colony at El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center contained only males. On April 4
th, they found the first of four small females and went on to collect an additional four males. Although Edgardo has been conducting amphibian surveys throughout various parts of Panama or the last decade, these were the first female
Atelopus limosus he had ever laid eyes upon. Hopefully, they will become the founders of a sustainable breeding colony.
El Cope Expedition- April
In El Cope the team searched for the orange-and-black harlequin frog known as
Atelopus varius. Several years ago amphibian populations at El Cope were struck by chytrid. However recent reports suggested that
Atelopus varius tadpoles had been observed in one or more stream pools and that the species was just barely hanging on. The search was principally for adult males that might serve as mates for six gravid egg-bearing females maintained at the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center although they didn’t hold out very much hope for success. Male harlequin frogs spend almost all their
time in the stream thus they are the first to succumb to the water-borne amphibian chytrid fungus. Adult females which spend much of their time in the surrounding forest venture down to the stream only during the mating season apparently minimizing contact with the fungus and surviving longer than their mates. The team did not find any adult males but they did collect about a dozen froglets which must have just metamorphosed from tadpoles. In addition they found one sub-adult female.
