Great and Recent Footage of Gopher Frogs calling at Sandhills WMA

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Recently, Erin Cork of UGA and colleagues recorded this wonderful video which captures the lovely snoring calls of Georgia's rarest frog — The Gopher Frog (Lithobates capito). There are at least 2 other species of frog in the background as well — can you tell what they are??

Survey frequencies and scope have increased this year in response to the continued decline of the species throughout the state.

Sandhills WMA for example, is one of the source ponds of eggs for the now decade-long Head Start program, where eggs are collected and reared past the sensitive tadpole stage and released into protected habitat as froglets. In recent years, however, detections have declined, and this is the main reason that the Amphibian Foundation, in partnership with Zoo Atlanta, GA DNR, UGA and USFWS have begun establishing a captive propagation program. If we can produce healthy baby Gopher Frogs at the Foundation, then we don't have to rely on wild collected eggs for the conservation programs.

Thank you Erin for allowing us to post this wonderful video!

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