A Message from our Friends and Partners at the Amphibian & Reptile Conservancy

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Frosted Flatwoods Salamander Bonanza


This spring has already shaped up to be a promising one for several species. If you missed our last email about Gopher frogs, click here. We’re also seeing early season success with Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders.
 
With only a couple of weeks to go before we needed to begin searching for Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders in the last known location of the Atlantic Coastal Plain genetic clade, our dear friend Mark Mandica and my counterpart at the Amphibian Foundation in Atlanta, called asking for help.
 
We help each other out frequently and this one was a no-brainer: partner with Mark and his swarthy band of colleagues so they could conduct the urgent searches in southeast Georgia. Having found only four in Georgia over the previous three years combined, we were both nervous and hopeful.

Kurt Buhlmann ready for action.
 
With help from ARC, the Amphibian Foundation crew found 20 Frosted Flatwoods Salamander larvae in less than one day! They rushed them back to the assurance colony in Atlanta, where animals from the Georgia genetic clade are urgently needed for captive propagation.
 
But they weren’t finished there.
 
Mark led another team back a couple of weeks later and, just as the ponds were starting to dry up, they rescued another 20 larvae.
 
40 Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders in only two trips!

Mark was excited about this one, little did he know, they were about to hit the jackpot.

Big thanks to Mark and his colleagues, including Roy King, Chris Coppola, Kurt Buhlmann,, and Chris Peterson for their determination and resourcefulness in keeping the breeding colony alive. And special thanks to you, our donors, for  helping ARC contribute to this astonishing success!

To continue supporting field projects like this, please make a donation to ARC today.
 
Coming next: Record-setting Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake detections!

Thank you,
 
Jeff Holmes
Executive Director
The Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy 
 
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