The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

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/

Cave salamanders emerging from their burrows in the front of the Salamanders of Georgia display Of the six amphibian exhibits in the Conservatory lobby, the Salamanders of Georgia display contains some of the shyest animals we have ever tried to exhibit. In fact, most visitors don't believe there are eleven full-grown salamanders in there! A couple of weeks ago, during the 11 am exhibit feeding, a salamander phenomena occurred, and practically every salamander in the tank emerged and fed! Initially, they seemed to stay at their burrow entrances using their tongues to feed as crickets would pass by, but then that was abandoned for right out biting lunges at the prey (as if to not leave anything to chance). These salamanders are fed at that time several times a week, so why they chose to demonstrate their predatory prowess at that particular time — I have no idea. Fascinating though.  Luckily, a visitor was right there with the camera and was able to get some ...

Long tailed salamander | Eurycea longicauda The salamanders in our Salamanders of Georgia exhibit are probably the most secretive salamanders we have on display. Fascinating animals, yet it takes some patience to be able to see them. Three of the four species were out over the weekend, so I thought I would post some pics here. When one of the Long tailed salamanders ( Eurycea longicauda ) eats it's quite surprising, as their tongues are very long, and their aim is extremely accurate. Green salamander | Aneides aeneus Cave salamander | Eurycea lucifuga