The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

This past week, Dr Larry Wilson's Herpetology class came to visit us at the Amphibian Foundation. Gabe, Ryan and I had a great time showing the students around, talking herpetology and conservation! The Emory Herp class helped us measure 'Gary', our Black Rat Snake which was recently donated by the Cochran Mill Nature Center — Just over 7 feet long! Gary is about 30 years old. Erica, Emory student and Amphibian Foundation intern holds 'Butterscotch', our Yellow Rat Snake.

Last week, we had a special visit from Laura Seydel (Turner Foundation/Captain Planet) and Jairo Garcia (Climate Policies & Renewables at the Atlanta Mayor's Office of Sustainability). It was great to talk with them about important global environmental issues (and of course, how it relates to our beloved amphibians) No one can resist Princess' charms Laura, who was instrumental in getting the salamander lab set up at the Amphibian Foundation, holding one of the 5 known Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders from Georgia Laura finally got to hold a Flatwoods Salamander! It was a very exciting visit, and both Laura and Jairo are now on our Board of Directors!! Things keep coming together in the most beautiful ways.

Amanda Sargent (left) and Justyne Lobello (right) of the Georgia Reptile Society, pictured here in the Critter Lab with Mark and Anthony Mandica.  Georgia Reptile Society visited yesterday to discuss ways in which we can partner to help conserve amphibians and increase awareness of the conservation concerns surrounding reptiles and amphibians. They also came to donate graphic support in the form of Amphibian Foundation informational brochures, decals and an amazing banner for use at public outreach events. All designed and paid for by the GRS. We had a great time giving them the grand tour of the facilities and how best to use them to serve the Georgia herp community. Justyne Lobello,  Founder of the Georgia Reptile Society standing next to The Amphibian Foundation banner that she designed, and the GRS donated. The GRS vehicle parked at 'Metamorphosis Meadow' - the foundation's part of the Field Research Center at Blue Heron Nature Preserve

This link was submitted by Amphibian Conservation Program supporter Bob Mohl ... thanks!!

I had the privilege today of meeting with two groups and talking about amphibian conservation, our program and ways to collaborate to get the word out about amphibian declines by getting our community involved! First, I met with Aaron and Cleo from #weloveatl, a native metro Atlanta social phenomenon. I met Aaron and Cleo when he and I both gave talks at the TEDx conference in April at GA Tech. I have been looking forward to meeting with them to discuss uniting the Garden and our Amphibian Conservation Program with the enthusiasm of his #weloveatl community. Aaron (one of the founders of #weloveatl) and Cleo outside of the frogPOD. I had a wonderful visit with them today. Secondly, I met with some of the Garden staff from the Advancement and Development teams, and showed them around our amphibian conservation collections. Unfortunately, we don't often get to spend time with member of other departments, and I was grateful that that took me up on my offer to show them some of...

One of our new exhibit animals ( Dendrobates tinctorius azureus ) donated by the Georgia Aquarium   These beautiful frogs are getting used to their new habitat in the Fuqua Conservatory lobby Weekend visitors looking for frogs after I told them there were 17 frogs and 4 tadpoles in this Costa Rica exhibit. There is a newly metamorphosed Lemur froglet in the center of the image. There are 11 critically endangered Lemur frogs ( Agalychnis lemur ) in the Costa Rica exhibit. Two of them (pictured above) are metamorphs, meaning they were recently tadpoles. Lemur frogs sleep under leaves — you can see how they would be impossible to find from the front of the exhibit. Here is a video of two of our adult Lemur frogs, in amplexus on exhibit. If you watch and listen closely, you can here the male (the one on her back) calling!

http://atlanta-culinary-tours.com/frog-feeding-at-the-atlanta-botanical-garden/

The Aquatic Plants pond at The Garden Dante Fenolio, Amphibian Conservation Scientist here at the Garden, might also be called "The Frog Whisperer' as he dazzled visitors this Sunday with his skill at calling a male Bullfrog | Lithobates catesbeianus over to him from the aquatic plants pond. Seeing is believing! After he came over to Dante, Garden visitors were holding the friendly frog for photo opps. The Bullfrog climbed right up on Dante's hand! Here he is approaching us Dante's daughter, Sierra bravely holding the large frog for pictures Sierra is very happy holding the large bullfrog After the photos were taken, one of the visitors released him back into his pond

This past Friday, May 20th was Endangered Species Day. As mentioned in the previous post, Endangered Species Day is a national program aimed at raising awareness of the many plant, animal and communities that are imperiled and need our attention. [click on a picture to enlarge them all and see comments] This year, we hosted our 2nd annual Endangered Species Day event at the Garden. Here are some photographs from the 'headliner' — Whit Gibbons, professor (emeritus) @ UGA in the fields of ecology and herpetology and senior researcher (emeritus) @ the Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL).

Epipedobates tricolor transporting 6 tadpoles to water in the conservatory Since the blog started, we have been inviting the Garden's visitors to contribute photos to share. Well, here is our first visitor submission! An amazing photograph by Kyle Finn (Moody Gardens) of and adult  Epipedobates tricolo r (Phantasmal poison frog) transporting tadpoles across the conservatory on its back!

Writer/director Victoria Vaughn and her NYU film crew (Dan and Kevin) filmed part of a new documentary addressing amphibian population declines in the frogPOD. The film crew spent several days here, filming throughout the Garden and Zoo Atlanta as well as joining Robert Hill in the field at the Gopher frog ( Lithobates capito ) collection site in south Georgia.