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...
