The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

We were excited to be a part of this important study! New Study Helps Smithsonian Scientists Prioritize Frogs at Risk of Extinction : Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and partners have published a paper that will help them save Panamanian frog species from extinction due to a deadly …

Finally! A guide to all the amazing animals in the Fuqua Conservatory and Orchid Center . There are many species of frog, lizard, turtle and bird and they are all included in this soft-cover field guide. You can download a PDF for free here .

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/

A friend of mine (Jay Patton) snapped this photo at the beginning of the talk. On the table in front of me is a collection of specimens (skeletal and alcoholic) that I have used for illustration including this Indigo Snake book. On July 18th, I had the privilege of discussing the biology and illustration of the Eastern Indigo Snake ( Drymarchon couperi ) . This is a book, authored by Chris Jenkins of the Orianne Society, that I have been illustrating for the past few months and will most likely be published next year. Illustrating this book has givien me the rare opportunity to become intimate with indigo snake biology, ecology and conservation and I had an incredible experience sharing this information with the Science Café here at the Garden.  For more information, click below: http://www.meetup.com/AtlantaScienceTavern/events/128587622/

This week Joel Sartore , photographer for National Geographic , was in the Garden's frogPOD photographing Rabb's Fringe-limbed tree frog ( Ecnomiohyla rabborum ) . Last year, amphibian biologists concluded that this Panamanian frog is likely to be extinct in the wild, leaving the male in our collection as the last known animal on earth. Joel Sartore, pictured here photographing  Ecnomiohyla rabborum , has photographed more than 2,600 endangered species for his Photo Ark,  aimed at preserving—at the very least—the memory of the earth's biodiversity. A profile of the frog will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine. We will keep you posted! The frog was out of his enclosure for only a moment to minimize stress on this important animal. The Rabb's Fringe-limbed tree frog (and all the frogs in the Garden's frogPOD) was collected from Panama in 2005 ahead of the arrival of the 'amphibian chytrid' fungus,  Batrachochytrium ...

There was a great turnout for Dante's morning presentation "Life in the Dark' featuring his photographic skill and lifetime love for critters who come out after dark, live in holes, in the deep, under rocks or simply in the dirt. Students from a few local schools came to learn for a rare peek into the dark. Dante's introduction by Tracy   Hellbenders live under rocks in fast flowing, clear streams He will give the same lecture, only geared towards adults tonight @ 7pm in Day Hall.

Life in the Dark: Wildlife From the Shadowy Corners of Our Planet Calhoun Lecture Wednesday, October 5 @ 7 p.m. Many life forms thrive in the darkest places on the planet, from watery depths to black subterranean haunts. Some are found within soil or even inside other organisms. Danté Fenolio, Atlanta Botanical Garden Amphibian Conservation Scientist, provides a rare glimpse of these creatures with a preview of images from a book he was recently awarded a grant to photograph. The Calhoun Lecture series is made possible by the generous support of the family of Marion Peel Calhoun. Admission is free and no reservations are required.