The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

Five-lined skinks,  Plestiodon fasciatus are common throughout the Garden ... particularly the Parterre Garden Two issues of ' Clippings ' ago ... we featured Reptiles in the Rotunda — highlighting some of the reptilian species lurking in the trop house and conservatory. There are many reptile species in the conservatory. The orchid center, including the high elevation house, orchid house and atrium also provide refuge for many native and non-native reptile species. In this post we feature some of the scaly critters here as well as some of the folks that love them.... Amphibian Specialist, Leslie Philips and Conservatory Director, Ron Determann checking out some new hatchling turtles Ron inspecting Carmine, our conservatory resident Alligator Snapper , who was being weighed while we cleaned out his pond Can you spot the Oustalet's Chameleon ( Furcifer oustaleti ) in this picture? (see below) There are a bunch of them in the conservatory and they are doin...

Great read and wonderful photographs by Dante Fenolio , my predecessor and former Amphibian Conservation Biologist here at the Garden. The article is a free download, just click the link at the bottom. Conservation Biologist for the San Antonio Zoo, Dr. Danté Fenolio, just published a conservation assessment of a threatened salamander that lives in groundwater below the states of Georgia and Florida. The Georgia Blind Salamander, Eurycea  wallacei , spends its life in the dark, cruising around flooded caves! The paper was published in Reptiles and Amphibians Conservation and Natural History, which is a free access journal. You can download the paper at no cost, visit  http://www.ircf.org/journal/

The Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander , Ambystoma bishopi is one of the most imperiled amphibian species in the US. Gone from Georgia and Alabama, A. bishopi is now restricted to a handful of puddles in Northern Florida. The Garden is working with USFW as well as biologists from VA Tech, to attempt to breed this species in captivity to boost population numbers in the wild. This video (shot by Leslie Phillips, Amphibian Specialist @ ABG) shows a recent metamorph feasting on an earthworm. To see more of the work on this species, click here .

After meeting with Michael Hearst of Unusual Creatures , I learned that this Glass Frog ( Cochranella granulosa ) may be the only Glass Frog on exhibit in the US! She is generally always out in plain view in our Costa Rica exhibit. Earlier this summer, I was visited by Michael Hearst and his partner/camera man,  Joe Beshenkovsky who were looking to film and learn about Glass Frogs (family: centrolenidae) for their show called Unusual Creatures  (the first season of which has been picked up by PBS) . Mike informed me they had been looking everywhere for a place that was working with Glass Frogs, and told me that the Garden may very well be the only institution with Glass Frogs on exhibit! Keep checking back and there will be a short video, featuring Glass Frogs at the Garden due out sometime this fall! Joe, Michael and myself posing with one of the Garden's frogs after a long morning of filming Michael Hearst standing in front of Earth Goddess. Th...