amphibian

Wildlife Conservation: Breeding Eastern Tiger Salamanders

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Amphibian breeding season is here! That means it’s time to start helping amphibians get in the mood for love and romance.

The Institution of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) recently awarded a $500,000 National Leadership Grant for the purpose of improving reproduction within captive assurance colonies of imperiled salamanders. The Detroit Zoological Society is one of the primary partners on this grant. My doctoral research focused on salamanders, their reproductive physiology and techniques to help them breed, and that very research was the basis for the recent IMLS grant proposal.

Other partners on the grant include Mississippi State University and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Now that the grant was awarded, techniques must be taught to the other partners so we can all work together in salamander conservation efforts. I recently visited Mississippi State University in order to train the other principal investigators and the graduate students involved on this salamander grant in principles of natural salamander reproduction and performing assisted reproduction techniques with salamanders.

The training session involved eastern tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum), which are regionally threatened and endangered in various areas of North America. Like many species of salamanders, the tiger salamander is very difficult to breed in human care. Similar to other species in the “mole salamander” family, tiger salamanders respond to changes in air pressure and temperature when seasonal rain storms occur. These storms are what cue breeding behavior and are very difficult to replicate in human care. Without the ability to provide the appropriate “mood”, tiger salamanders in human care will not often feel romantically inclined. Natural breeding is always the first goal when breeding animals for conservation, but sometimes this is extremely challenging. In these cases, we use alternative techniques while we perfect replicating the natural breeding environment.

In vitro fertilization is a technique used to assist salamanders and other amphibians in breeding. Most salamander species undergo internal fertilization, in which the female picks up a capsule of male sperm, called a spermatophore, which the male has deposited into the environment. The female holds the sperm in an internal pouch that she later empties over her eggs as the eggs are laid. In in vitro fertilization of salamanders, sperm is collected from males by giving them a massage. Eggs are then collected from the female into a small dish where sperm is placed on top of the eggs. Just add water, and presto, you have salamander babies. Of course, it is never just that easy, but the concept is straightforward.

I trained the other primary investigators and students in other techniques as well, including cryopreservation – or freezing and long-term storage – of salamander sperm and sperm quality assessment. The training was very successful, with nearly 100 tiger salamander babies produced. Now the trainees can go on to teach more amphibian conservationists, and we can save more species by assisting with breeding!

– Dr. Ruth Marcec is the director of the National Amphibian Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo.

Wildlife Conservation: Lending Amphibian “Sexpertise” to Other Accredited Zoos

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

I recently participated in a partnership to save an incredible species of amphibian: the blue spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale). This animal is regionally endangered in parts of the Midwest and about 10 years ago, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources started a partnership with Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. They wanted to breed these salamanders for release at locations where they once thrived but have now disappeared. Having had little success in doing so thus far, the organizations reached out and requested my amphibian “sexpertise”. I travelled to Omaha to deploy some of my special reproductive techniques with the blue spotted salamander assurance colony living there.

It comes as no surprise that these salamanders proved very difficult to breed. Blue spotted salamanders need an extraordinary amount of “salamander romance” in order to breed naturally. These animals undergo winter brumation (a hibernation-like state). In the spring, they will emerge from brumation when it begins to rain and when the temperature rises in order to migrate to breeding ponds. Their migrations can be over several miles, and most salamanders return to the same pond every breeding season. In captive breeding situations, we attempt to recreate the cues that the salamanders take from the wild in order to get them “in the mood” for breeding. We cool them down and offer them the opportunity to undergo brumation. We place them in rain chambers so they can experience an “indoor storm”. We also attempt to create a naturalistic pond for them to breed in with proper vegetation and leaf litter.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the natural cues we provide artificially are not enough to trigger breeding. Many amphibians are having difficulty breeding in the wild, due to changes in the climate and their habitat. Given that the natural environment is not currently providing ideal cues for breeding, it is especially difficult to perfectly recreate environmental breeding cues for animals in human care. When captive animals do not breed in response to the cues we provide, we often use hormone treatments to give them a little boost. These hormone protocols are meant to trigger breeding behaviors as well as the release of sperm and eggs. In the best-case scenario, the application of hormones will result in the animals breeding on their own. In the worst-case scenario, the animals will not breed on their own after the application of hormones and an in vitro fertilization (an artificial fertilization of the eggs with the sperm in a petri dish) will take place.

We used a combination of natural cues and hormones to stimulate breeding in the blue spotted salamanders. The amount of hormones I gave to the female blue spotted salamanders was determined by how developed their eggs looked on ultrasound. While giving the animals hormones resulted in many interesting behaviors, the salamanders did not breed on their own. After giving them time to breed on their own without success, I attempted in vitro fertilization. In order to perform this technique, I needed to collect eggs from the females and sperm from the males. There was one big problem with attempting this technique – the male blue spotted salamanders were not producing sperm. Fortunately, I had a back-up plan!

The blue spotted salamander is no ordinary salamander. In the wild, many female blue spotted salamanders breed through a special adaptation called kleptogenesis, meaning that they steal sperm. You read that correctly: sperm thieves. Most salamanders undergo internal fertilization. This occurs when the male deposits the sperm in a ball – called a spermatophore – into the environment. Through a courtship dance, the spermatophore is collected by the female. These special female blue spotted salamanders will find and collect spermatophores deposited by males from other, closely related, species (including Jefferson’s salamanders, tiger salamanders, and small-mouth salamanders). This is the part where it becomes complicated. Rather than using the sperm to fertilize their eggs and have hybrid offspring, an enzyme in the sperm activates the egg which begins to grow into an embryo. The rest of the sperm is discarded, and the offspring which develop are essentially clones of the mother. Knowing that blue spotted salamander females are often sperm thieves, I had the Omaha Zoo’s resident male tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) on standby. I was able to collect sperm from the tiger salamanders in order to use in the in vitro fertilization of the blue spotted salamander eggs.

Unfortunately, the eggs did not fertilize with the tiger salamander sperm. While we did not achieve offspring, we learned what we need to do differently next time around. We certainly will not give up on these amazing animals. We will try to breed the blue spotted salamanders again later this year, using slightly different techniques.

Thank you to our partners at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and the Iowa DNR.

– Dr. Ruth Marcec is the director of the National Amphibian Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo.

Amphibian Conservation: Fired Up About Salamanders

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

From the days of old, salamanders have captured the imagination of humankind. Long ago, when people would place logs in a fire, brightly colored salamanders would often come scurrying away from the flames. Of course, this was because the salamander’s hiding place was burning, but people in medieval times assumed that the salamander was a creature that came from the flames. People supposed that salamanders were imbued with mystical properties and they became the alchemic symbol for the element of fire.

Despite this long-time association with flame, salamanders are unlikely to be found near a toasty fire. There are more than 600 species of salamanders known, and most of them prefer cool, damp places to live. These critters are often found in a variety of places, including under logs, in rock crevices, high in trees, or living in cool bodies of water, ranging from puddles to fast moving rivers.

Unlike lizards, which look similar to salamanders, salamanders have moist, scale-less skin. Salamanders use their unique skin to intake water, absorb nutrients, and even breathe.

Most species of salamanders are born with a larval stage, similar to the tadpole stage of a frog. The larval salamander is aquatic, has external gills, and has no limbs upon hatching. As the larva grows, it develops legs. Many species of salamanders undergo metamorphosis, losing their gills and undergoing other small body changes as they transfer from water to land.

Salamanders are critical indicators of environmental health, and are key players in the health of ecosystems. These animals serve as sentinels for anything that is changing in the environment. Such changes include pollution, disease or climate change. Almost 50 percent of salamander species are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Detroit Zoological Society is working toward preventing these wonderful creatures from going extinct through breeding and release programs, habitat restoration and population surveys.

– Dr. Ruth Marcec is the Director of the National Amphibian Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo.

Veterinary Care: Cutting-edge Technologies in Amphibian Conservation

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Last week I was able to attend a very exciting advanced conservation training course to learn assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in amphibians. The meeting was hosted by the Omaha Zoo, and was offered by the Amphibian Taxon Advisory Group (ATAG). I was one of a small group of zoo and conservation scientists invited to learn cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to have a tremendous impact on the conservation of endangered amphibians.

At the Detroit Zoo, we’ve been using hormone treatments to help with reproduction in Wyoming toads and Puerto Rican crested toads for more than 10 years. Recently, Dr. Andy Kouba from Mississippi State University has been able to modify these treatments for use in other species, and to develop techniques for collecting eggs and sperm for in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Two years ago, I traveled to his laboratory to learn these techniques for dusky gopher frogs, and within a few months we became the third zoo to reproduce amphibians via IVF.

The goal of the ART course was to provide in-depth information concerning reproduction in frogs, toads and salamanders. This course was taught by Dr. Kouba and two of his colleagues, and represented the first time that husbandry staff, veterinarians and conservation researchers have come together to discuss assisted reproductive technologies. The attendees brought together a wealth of knowledge, and experiences working with hellbender salamanders, Chinese giant salamanders, Oregon-spotted frogs and others. We talked about the impacts of hibernation, temperature, humidity and social cues on reproduction, and the challenges we have encountered in the past. We learned about the historic use of hormones in amphibians, and how this information can be adapted to new species. We also learned how to gently collect spermic urine from male amphibians, and to stimulate females to lay eggs. We learned how to examine developing tadpoles under a microscope, and cyroperservation techniques for sperm. We also learned how to use ultrasound to monitor egg development in females. During the week, we put these skills to practice, and were able to produce fertilized eggs from Puerto Rican crested toads, American toads, tiger salamanders and Asian black spiny toads (for the first time!).

At the Detroit Zoo, we have number of very endangered species of amphibians, including some that have never or only rarely reproduced outside of the wild. Over the next few months, we will be able to start using cryopreservation to save genetics from these critically endangered species. The skills learned at the ART course will allow us to continue to be leaders in amphibian conservation, and to hopefully successfully breed Japanese giant salamanders, giant waxy tree frogs, and other endangered species at the National Amphibian Conservation Center.

– Dr. Ann Duncan is the director of animal health for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex.

Amphibian Conservation: Saving the Panamanian Golden Frog

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

The Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) is a unique and beautiful amphibian from the highlands of Panama. This yellow or orange and black “frog” is actually a type of toad that walks more than it hops. It resides in areas near fast-moving streams and rivers in the mountainous forests within the country. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Panamanian golden frog as Critically Endangered, which is one step before becoming Extinct.

In the wild they are believed to be in such low numbers that they may no longer be able to sustain as a wild population; in fact, no one has seen a Panamanian golden frog in the wild for quite some time. Massive population decreases are believed to be caused by chytrid fungus, habitat destruction, the exotic animal trade and sedimentation of egg-laying sites in rivers and streams. Now, they exist mostly in captive zoo breeding populations.

One of these breeding populations has been housed in a bio-secure room at the Detroit Zoo’s National Amphibian Conservation Center for 16 years, and has contributed several years of offspring to the Panamanian Golden Frog Species Survival Plan (SSP). SSPs are cooperative management programs through the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) that aim to reproduce, genetically manage and possibly reintroduce endangered animals into the wild with the assistance of other wildlife management organizations. In addition to its active role in the SSP, the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) employs several other strategies to conserve the Panamanian golden frog in the wild. At this time, there is nowhere identified in the wilds of Panama to safely release captive-bred tadpole or juvenile golden frogs to the wild.

Breeding the Panamanian golden frog in captivity involves understanding the complex conditions found in their wild habitat. They have an interesting life cycle from courtship to final metamorphosis. In the wild, males of this species will perch on rock outcroppings or on top of large leaves that overhang or are near a flowing stream or river. The males then begin to call, thrusting out the vocal sacs on their throats as they produce a low trill vocalization meant to alert females to their presence as well as warn other males to stay away. Since these animals breed and live in close proximity to the loud sound of rushing water, their low-toned vocalizations can be very difficult to hear. For this reason, golden frogs have evolved a type of sign language they can use to communicate to mates as well as rivals. These amphibians have the ability to execute a “wave” using their front legs to take the place of their hard-to-hear vocalization when conditions around the stream are noisy. This type of communication is known as semaphore behavior.

Once a pair of golden frogs has successfully mated in the wild, the female will deposit up to several thousand small round white eggs underneath a rock in a steam or river and away from direct sunlight. This is done because the white eggs lack pigment entirely and would be adversely harmed by the ultra violet (UV) radiation from the sun. This same issue has to be addressed at the Detroit Zoo. The animals are bred inside aquariums in a specially modified room just for this species. After the breeding pairs are chosen for the year, the animals are placed together in an aquarium. Prior to the onset of the “wet season,” misting cycles within the frogs’ habitat are coordinated to simulate the “dry season,” giving the frogs a sense of seasonality, which helps stimulate them to breed. If eggs are laid in the aquarium, amphibian staff must protect the eggs from the naturalistic UV lighting over the breeding tanks by wrapping black trash bags around the aquarium. This simulates total darkness, which allows the light-sensitive eggs to develop unharmed. Once eggs develop pigment, the trash bags can be removed.

Eventually, the eggs develop and a small black and yellow tadpole emerges from the egg casing. These tadpoles are very well adapted to living in fast, flowing stream environments with strong mouthparts which assist them in clinging to the rocks in turbulent water as they scrape away at algae and the microorganisms they depend on for food. At the Detroit Zoo, we reproduce the golden frog food source by smearing a wet algae mix on small plastic food plates and allowing the mixture to dry. Once the algae is dry, the plates are placed in the water and the tadpoles move over and around the plate, scraping off the food with their specialized mouthpart. After several weeks, the tadpoles metamorphose into fully formed little toadlets, which are turquoise green and black in color, a color phase that camouflages them in while living in a forest habitat. They eventually turn mostly yellow or orange and black upon reaching adulthood.

Along with the extensive breeding program, conserving the Panamanian golden frog involves reaching out to the communities where these animals live and educating the public. In 2015, I assisted the staff at a small conservation center in El Valle, Panama, called the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center (EVACC). This center is dedicated to breeding, exhibiting and educating the public on Panama’s native amphibians. While in Panama, I assisted EVACC with their amphibian exhibits and breeding programs. The DZS is also becoming involved in developing educational materials to better educate an already sympathetic public about conserving their environment and this important amphibian. Recently, DZS Curator of Education Claire Lannoye-Hall has been appointed as the SSP Education Advisor for the Panamanian Golden Frog SSP. Within this role, the Detroit Zoo will be instrumental in developing educational programs and cultural awareness within Panama.

The Panamanian golden frog holds a special place in the Panamanian culture. Signifying good luck, the golden frog can be seen on lottery tickets and in gift shops all around the country. The history of this little amphibian within Panama can be illustrated by the presence of “rana dorada” or golden frog, in some of the petroglyphs within the country dating back to pre-European contact. Perhaps those ancient artists were hoping for a little luck as they etched images of this mystical amphibian into the rocks of the cloud forest. Hopefully, with a little of that same luck and continued dedication from the Detroit Zoological Society and its conservation partners, the Panamanian golden frog will not disappear from history for good.

– Mark Vassallo is an amphibian department zookeeper for the Detroit Zoological Society, and works in the National Amphibian Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo.

Amphibian Conservation: Crawfish Frogs in Crisis

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

What is the best way to repurpose a basement in one of the buildings at the Detroit Zoo? Turn it into an amphibian’s paradise!

Amphibians across the globe are in crisis, with populations declining rapidly due to climate change, habitat destruction and a disease called the chytrid fungus. In an effort to reverse this trend for the crawfish frog (Lithobates areolatus), which is listed as Endangered in the state of Indiana, the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Natural Resources and staff at Indiana University. In 2013 these entities began a repatriation project, which is an effort to return a species to its natural habitat. This involved the collection of egg masses from grasslands in Indiana, which were then transported to the Detroit Zoo, where staff raised them until they were almost froglets before releasing them back into the wild.

The crawfish frog can lay egg masses with as many as 5,000 eggs. That might make one wonder how these animals could be endangered, right? Well, even if all of those eggs hatched into tadpoles, less than one percent of those tadpoles would ever make it out of the water. Tadpoles are an easy prey for a wide variety of animals including birds, fish, mammals, frogs and even larger tadpoles. And even fewer tadpoles would make it far enough into adulthood to breed. This shows how vulnerable the tadpole stage is in a frog’s life, which is why we focused our efforts on this stage.

We knew what we needed to do, but where is there enough room for thousands of tadpoles at the Detroit Zoo? How about right under the noses of Jasiri and Tamba, two Southern white rhinos! Not directly under them, since 12,000 pounds of rhino would be harmful to a tadpole, but rather in the basement of their indoor habitat. It took a lot of hard work from staff, but the space was eventually turned into a fantastic temporary home for crawfish frog tadpoles. Some of their luxury items include manufactured ponds with an automatic rain system, spotlights and temperature control systems – and of course, plenty of food.

In April, the crawfish frog egg mass is transported from Indiana to the Detroit Zoo in a cooler. We take this egg mass right down to the basement where it is placed in water. In a couple of weeks, tadpoles start to emerge, which are then counted and moved into long pond-like pools. We raise these newly hatched tadpoles for about three months, with the amphibian department staff feeding and cleaning them daily. It takes hours to care for the tadpoles each day, but it is all worth it in the end when they are driven back to Indiana and released. The total number of tadpoles varies from year to year, but since this project started in 2013, the DZS has released a total of 10,411 tadpoles back into the wild.

While wild tadpoles have less than a one percent chance of survivability, we were able raise that to an astounding 99 percent in 2014 and 2015 for these “basement” tadpoles. That’s because they don’t need to worry about predators, disease, lack of food or pollution. This lets them get a good head start on life – but we don’t make it too easy for them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t know what to do once they got back to the wild. So before they fully metamorphose – or turn into frogs – they are taken back to Indiana and released into the ponds. Since some frogs lead a “double life” – aquatic and terrestrial – they are able to finish their aquatic life stage in enclosed repatariums, or screened-in containers, that allow protection before they are released as full frogs in the environment in which they will live. This method works well and provides exposure to the environment they will be living in before they become too accustomed to the luxury of the rhino basement.

The DZS crawfish frog conservation project requires long hours, but it is also the best time of the year as a member of the amphibian department staff. Seeing how the DZS can make a positive impact on this species and the ecosystem is very rewarding.

– Michael Andrus is an amphibian department zookeeper for the Detroit Zoological Society and works in the National Amphibian Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo.

Veterinary Care: Ultrasound Exams for Frogs

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Spring is in the air, and as I hike and bike the trails in southeast Michigan I find myself excited to be immersed in the lovely chorus of spring peepers and tree frogs as they prepare for this year’s breeding season. This also means it won’t be long until it is amphibian breeding season at the Detroit Zoo! Each year, the veterinary team works closely with our amphibian staff to provide support for our amphibian breeding programs. Our curators and keepers set up special breeding areas and adjust the temperature, light cycles, humidity and water access to simulate conditions in the wild and encourage natural breeding. They even set up simulated rainfall and play tape-recorded sounds of breeding calls collected from the wild.

Even with all of this, some of our endangered amphibians need a little more help to breed successfully.   At the Detroit Zoo, we have over a decade of experience administering special hormones to Wyoming toads and Puerto Rican crested toads to help with breeding. We have been very successful with these programs; two years ago the amphibian staff sent 3,914 Wyoming toad tadpoles to Wyoming and last year they sent 22,571 Puerto Rican crested toad tadpoles to Puerto Rico for release into their native habitat. This is important work and we are proud to be able to help.

As zoo husbandry staff and amphibian reproductive experts have gained expertise, it has become clear that not all amphibians respond the same way to changes in their environment and established hormone protocols. Two years ago, we purchased a high frequency ultrasound probe, and we have found that we can monitor the appearance of the ovaries and follicles as they develop and mature within female frogs and toads. This provides a very powerful tool for understanding the impact of the husbandry and hormone treatments that we apply, and will allow us to establish assisted reproduction methods for other endangered species.

This season we have some exciting things planned, and have started the early work to check the females we are hoping to breed. Last week, we performed ultrasound exams on our three female giant waxy tree frogs, and were able to see that they are all developing large, follicle-filled ovaries. Based on the appearance of the follicles, we think that they will be ready to breed in the next few weeks to a month.

This week, we will be conducting ultrasound exams on our endangered Mississippi gopher frog females. Once we see their degree of follicle development, we’ll be able to plan a hormone and husbandry strategy for this year’s breeding season. Hopefully we will have exciting news to share in the coming months!

– Dr. Ann Duncan is the Director of Animal Health for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex.

Amphibian Conservation: Breeding Puerto Rican Crested Toads

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

April is an important time for the Detroit Zoological Society’s amphibian conservation programs. Three of the four animals we work with at the National Amphibian Conservation Center (NACC) that are a part of Species Survival Plans (SSP) are preparing to take part in precisely planned and scheduled breeding events. The outcome is the release of captive-born offspring into the wild to aid in the increase of their populations.

First up for the season is the Puerto Rican crested toad, Peltophryne lemur. The PRC toad, as we like to call them, has been part of a well-managed SSP since 1984. Habitat loss and competition from the invasive cane or marine toad (Rhinella marina) are believed to have been primary causes for the toad’s decline. Listed as critically endangered by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), collaborative efforts by the Associations of Zoos and Aquariums, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources have aided the recovery of this toad in the wild. More than 300,000 captive-bred tadpoles produced by 20 zoos have been released to the wild since 1982. Since the year 2000, the Detroit Zoological Society has produced more than 45,000 tadpoles for this program. In 2015, three clutches of eggs laid produced 22,571 tadpoles for release – the largest amount the Detroit Zoo had ever sent. Ongoing research and the creation and protection of pond habitats have also assisted in the recovery of this toad in its natural habitat.

You may be wondering what it takes to produce thousands of tadpoles from toads half the size of the palm of your hand. The breeding season starts with the assignment of four breeding pairs from the SSP. Each toad in captivity is identified and tracked using a studbook. Specialized software chooses pairs of toads that will produce the most genetically diverse offspring. By mid-March, we know who these eight toads are and we can begin preparing them for breeding.

Each toad must be easily identifiable – if you think all toads look alike you’ll be surprised to know that wart patterns and throat markings are very unique, although reading glasses are sometimes needed to make the proper ID. Toads are conditioned by slightly cooling and drying their environments out for a month-long period. A thermostat-controlled refrigeration unit keeps the toads cooled precisely at 66 degrees Fahrenheit. While the toads are “sleeping”, their primary zookeeper works diligently on preparing the breeding tanks where the pairs will breed and the eggs will develop. At this same time, veterinarians prepare a schedule of specialized breeding hormones that will further assist in ensuring that eggs are laid and fertilization happens at the right moment.

Upon their exit from cooling, they return to normal husbandry to warm up and eat for a few days. Breeding calls of male toads are played to encourage breeding behaviors. Males are first to go into the breeding tanks, followed hours later by the females. If all the preparation works, pairs of toads will be in amplexus – which happens when a male is positioned on top of a female and he squeezes her to encourage egg-laying – before we leave for the evening, followed by a morning of tanks full of eggs.

It takes two to three days for eggs to hatch and another couple of days for tadpoles to begin swimming around and actively eating. Tadpoles can be some of the hungriest creatures you will ever encounter. Keepers spend the next 10 days keeping them fully fed by offering them algae pellets, powdered diets and romaine lettuce sometimes three times a day. At the same time, all those foraging tadpoles create a lot of waste, so keepers spend the rest of their time keeping their water clean with frequent water changes.

During all of this, we keep a very important date in the backs of our minds – the last big event in our PRC toad breeding season. Any facility that breeds the PRC toad needs to ship them to Puerto Rico for release on the same date. The release of the tadpoles is timed with the season in which the tads would grow and develop the best in the wild. Tadpoles also need to be shipped at a certain age, before they get too big and begin to develop appendages.

Amphibian staff can spend well over 24 hours collectively counting and packing the tadpoles into Styrofoam-protected shipping boxes. Heavy-duty fish shipping bags are used, doubled up and filled with oxygen to keep tadpoles healthy and safe on their trip to Puerto Rico. Approximately 24 hours later, they will reach their new home in a pond located in a well-protected forest in Puerto Rico. As they develop and grow, they will add to the wild population and one day, hopefully, participate in creating many more thousands of tadpoles!

Rebecca Johnson is the associate curator of amphibians for the Detroit Zoological Society.

Amphibian Conservation: Species in Crisis

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Let’s focus our attention on the smallest residents living at the Detroit Zoo: amphibians. No other class of vertebrates has the ability to adapt and evolve as quickly in our ever-changing planet as amphibians. They have used every reproductive strategy and developed life stages influenced by environmental factors; they can be colorful, camouflaged and cryptic, regenerate limbs, and have been on Earth for the last 200 million years.

Marcy Blog 4

Currently, amphibians are the most threatened group of animals in the world with 40 percent of all species at risk. This crisis is considered the greatest extinction event in history; it’s also the Earth’s sixth mass biological extinction. While previous mass extinctions have been driven by natural planetary transformations or catastrophic asteroid strikes, the current die-off can be associated directly with human activity. This epoch started when human activities began having a significant impact on the Earth’s ecosystems.

The Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) participates in Global Assessments, which provide a comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of biological species as well as a critical dataset for evaluating the health of key elements of biodiversity and identifying threats to their survival. Newly described species emerge yet extinctions are occurring at an even faster rate. Climate change is the most dramatic cause of declines, and it affects amphibians both directly and indirectly, as reproduction is dependent on temperatures and seasonal transitions. Low pond levels expose embryos to more ultra violet (UV) light and UVB radiation is harmful to many species. The shorter periods and earlier opportunities for breeding ultimately reduce the chances of success. Amphibians are also dependent upon water, which makes them vulnerable to desecration when ponds dry too quickly. But since amphibians rely on the environment, they also are excellent storytellers. They can help us determine where pollutants are and if there is misuse of habitat.

When the National Amphibian Conservation Center (NACC) opened at the Detroit Zoo in 2001, it was the first major facility dedicated entirely to conserving and exhibiting amphibians. The award-winning, state-of-the-art amphibian center is home to a spectacular diversity of frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians, many of which are the subjects of field research and part of cooperative management programs called Species Survival Plans (SSP). Amphibians selected for an SSP are generally threatened, endangered and sometimes even extinct in the wild. The DZS is actively involved in many of these programs, including for the Wyoming toad, Puerto Rican crested toad, Panamanian golden frog, crawfish frog and Mississippi gopher frog. Some amphibians bred at the Detroit Zoo have been released into the wild to boost endangered populations, and others require us maintaining a “captive assurance population” because due to factors in the wild, they cannot be released just yet. When it’s safe for these species to return to their native homes, we have a population ready to release. We have specially designed, bio-secure rooms that can hold each of these species so they won’t be exposed to other amphibians or anything else that may be harmful when they are released.

In addition to maintaining our captive amphibian population and our efforts in cooperative breeding programs, DZS staff participates in several field projects and research programs, offers citizen science training and provides support for wildlife rescues, including those from the exotic pet trade.

– Marcy Sieggreen is the curator of amphibians for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the National Amphibian Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo.

Editor’s note: Marcy Sieggreen was the curator of amphibians for the Detroit Zoological Society from 2008 until her passing in 2016. The Detroit Zoological Society established the Sieggreen Amphibian Conservation Fund in Marcy’s memory to continue to advance the work she so passionately championed.

Notes from the Field: Passion for Peru

/ detroitzoo / Leave a comment

The fall trip to the Peruvian Amazon as part of the Detroit Zoological Society’s Adopt-A-School program has come to a close. Over the course of two weeks, our team of 21 staff members and volunteers were able to visit all 53 communities involved in the program. Even though each of these communities is facing challenges, they have shown their commitment to protecting the rainforest. The families clearly see the value of their children’s education.

To accomplish the evaluation for all the Adopt-A-School communities in a two-week period, we rely on volunteers from the city of Iquitos. Volunteerism is not a common practice in Peruvian culture; however the concept is growing. The volunteers this year included people in the fields of education, environmental sustainability and agriculture. The team was enthusiastic and dedicated, which was evidenced by the smiles of the children and hugs from community leaders. Their passion shined in the schools where they sang songs, told jokes and played games to help ensure students were comfortable with them before the evaluations began.

Volunteers support this program throughout the year, and now that the evaluations are complete, we are beginning to focus on our plans for next year. The Adopt-A-School program would not be able to function without the support of our volunteers from around the world. Without them and their contributions, we wouldn’t be able to deliver the donated school supplies to the communities at the beginning of the Peruvian school year. Our program volunteers contribute financially through a mandatory trip donation as well as providing their physical support and presence while they are in Peru.

If you’d like experience these beautiful places and meet some incredible people, consider volunteering with the Adopt-A-School program and join us in our travels to the rainforest in the spring: http://conapac.org/2016AmazonRainforestiBookletShort.pdf. If traveling to the Amazon is not for you, and you would like to contribute in a different way, please find a link to donate here: http://detroitzoo.org/support/give/adopt-a-school/.

– Carla Van Kampen is a curator of education for the Detroit Zoological Society. The Adopt-A-School program provides donated educational materials and supplies for schools in rural Amazonia. The DZS has partnered with Conservacion de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru (CONAPAC) in this conservation and education program since 1999.