The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

Through a grant from Memphis Zoo, we have expanded to 33 artificial wetlands for breeding and head-starting imperiled amphibians.⁠ ⁠ In the next week or two, we will be adding Gopher Frog tadpoles!

Our outdoor captive propagation facility. 33 mesocosms (artificial and experimentally controllable wetlands) help us to breed and rear imperiled native amphibian species like Flatwoods Salamanders, Striped Newts, and Gopher Frogs⁠ ⁠ ... plus many others⁠ ⁠

State Herpetologist, John Jensen took me out months ago to collect conservation breeding stock of Marbled Salamanders, Ambystoma opacum . Last autumn, John Jensen who is one of the state herpetologists for GA Department of Natural Resources, and also on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Amphibian Foundation, took me out into the field in the hopes of collecting Marbled Salamanders for inclusion in our conservation breeding program. This program, of which the ultimate goal is to successfully propagate healthy Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders ( Ambystoma cingulatum ) for release into restored habitat in the southeast, also focuses on surrogate species. Ambystomatid salamanders, such as the Marbled and Flatwoods species, have not been reliably bred in captivity, and gaining a better understanding on how this can be accomplished is vital to the program's success. Marbled Salamanders and Flatwoods Salamanders are unique in one interesting way — they breed exclusively in dry eph...

Last night, during a Thunderstorm, some brave souls joined us for a trial release of Gopher Frogs ( Lithobates capito ) into their mesocosm, where hopefully they will acclimate to their new home in time to reproduce this fall+. The Gopher Frog Release Team (July 31, 2018) Anthony Mandica, Crystal Mandica, Lillie Kline, Roberto Valencia and Aunt Christina Amphibian Foundation Co-founder Crystal Mandica introducing a Gopher Frog into the mesocosm Kevin McCauley, Executive Director of the Blue Heron Nature Preserve stopped by to release a Gopher Frog Lillie Kline, from Atlanta Audubon Society reaching for a jumpy Gopher Frog Roberto Valencia, our newest international intern from Ecuador, show here adding Gopher Frogs to their new home. This new captive breeding program, which the Amphibian Foundation is developing with Zoo Atlanta, GA DNR, USFWS and UGA aims to produce healthy, captive bred Gopher Frogs (a state 'Rare' species, and Georgia's rarest frog)....

We are nearly complete with our outdoor conservation research facility — an array of 20 tri-phasic mesocosms nicknamed 'Metamorphosis Meadow' or MetaMo. Todays Task: the completion of 3 sandhill mesocosms designed for the captive breeding of Georgia's rarest frog, the Gopher Frog ( Lithobates capito ). The source populations for the 11 year assisted metamorphosis and experimental release program continue to decline, so we have teamed up with Zoo Atlanta, Georgia DNR, UGA and USFWS to establish captive breeding groups of the species. Today's Mesocosm Team (front left): Nooch, Crystal and Mark Mandica, Roberto Valencia (visiting from Ecuador) and Caleb Black; (back left) Barbara Marston, Jason Bracken, Emma Slutsker, Juan Taquechel, Joshua Black, and Dr Michael Black (top right). Kate Carson looking happy with pride over completing a Gopher Frog mesocosm. Kate was instrumental in building the Flatwoods Salamander mesocosms as well. Anthony Mandica, co-founde...

Miranda Gulsby in Pettyjohns Cave with her first ever Cave Salamander ( Eurycea lucifuga ) — Also, she was sporting my Flatwoods Salamander design SEPARC shirt. Just a very salamandery shot. Drs Ensign and McNeal's KSU Biology course, with state Herpetologist and Amphibian Foundation Scientific Advisory Board member John Jensen. The professors let me enlist the students to help collect paedomorphic Mole Salamanders ( Ambystoma talpoideum ) for our captive breeding program @ #MetaMo @amphibianfound Mole Salamanders are both a species, and a family of salamanders. The family: Ambystomatidae is so named due to the fact that most species of this family are fossorial (spend the majority of the time underground). The chunkiest of the bunch is Ambystoma talpoideum , the Mole Salamander. These adorable ambystomatids, the Mole Salamanders ( Ambystoma talpoideum ) have large heads, and short, stocky bodies Mole Salamanders (the species) have an interesting reproductive stra...