Dr. Joe Mendelson in the Field
	Related Pages Information on the Panama Amphibian Crisis (PDF document) Find out more about turtle conservation at Turtle Survivial Alliance Zoo Scientist featured in Science Reptiles & Amphibians in our Collection Research in Latin America

The Reptile and Amphibian department is working very hard at the Zoo to save critically endangered amphibians from around the world. No institution has ever attempted a program of this scale before, so we truly are world leaders in conservation, action and research. Panama is a particular area of concentration for the Amphibian Rescue program. The Rescue program has a full-time staff of Panamanian and American herpetologists working at two sites in Panama: El Copé, where a deadly fungal disease has devastated local frog populations; and El Valle, where the fungus is currently absent, but is predicted to invade in the next year. The staff are finding a few frogs at El Copé and have been successful in treating them with the veterinary protocol devised by Brad Lock, assistant curator of herpetology at Zoo Atlanta. The news is much better at El Valle, where teams are finding an amazing variety of frogs, and have been successful in establishing them in captivity at our temporary field-station.

On June 21st, Dr. Joe Mendelson and Sean Graham of Zoo Atlanta and Ron Gagliardo of the Atlanta Botanical Garden returned to Atlanta with the first rescue colonies of frogs. The logistics were a bit bumpy, but they were able to get 125 frogs of 21 species safely out of the wild (where they have no chance of survival) and now established as the first and only captive survival assurance colonies that exist for them. Export permits for these species have never before been granted by Panama, and most have never been kept in captivity. So, we really are breaking new ground here!

About 50 of the frogs are in quarantine at the Zoo now, the remainder being at the Botanical Garden.

Back to Main Conservation & Research Page