The colony of Panamanian golden frogs on exhibit arrived on March 24, 2012 from the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. They hatched at the Buffalo Zoo in New York in October of 2010.
Viewing Hints
Luckily for our visitors, these beautiful golden frogs are always hopping about in their habitat enclosures so it is easy to observe them. They like to sit in the cascade or in the water and you can sometimes see them trying to climb up the wall.
Panamanian golden frogs are part of a group of strikingly-marked amphibians known as Harlequin toads or stub-footed toads, and belong to the true toad family Bufonidae. They are referred to as frogs because the dorsum is smooth and the head is longer than it is wide, a characteristic that is more typical to frogs than toads. Panamanian golden frogs are slender, terrestrial frogs with long limbs. These frogs can’t jump too far; instead, they hop or walk about in a clumsy manner.
Longevity
Nobody is certain how long a Panamanian golden frog lives in the wild; in captivity, they can live up to 5 years or more.
Behavior
These frogs are diurnal, and active during mostly during the morning and early evening, hopping about the forest floor in search of food and mates. Harlequin toads generally live near streams, where the voice calls used by males to attract females and settle territories are often muffled by the sound of fast-flowing water. Male Panamanian golden frogs can be seen waving their hands to each other, literally saying “stop, don’t get any closer, this is my place”. This behavior, known as semaphoring, is believed to have evolved in order to communicate in noisy environments, like streams, and takes advantage of their keen sense of sight.
Reproduction
These frogs can be very prolific in the lab, but fewer and fewer tadpoles are being found in the wild. Males are known to be very persistent, clinging to a female for days, just “waiting” on her back until the moment she is finally fertile. Eggs are laid during periods of reduced stream flow, usually at the onset of the dry season, in wide shallow areas of the stream where the canopy is more open.
Conservation Status
On the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Panamanian golden frog is listed as Critically Endangered.
Conservation at a Glance
Ecuador, South America: Amphibian Conservation Center - Mazán Forest
-
Amphibian populations worldwide are dwindling.
-
Many are affected by deforestation, habitat degradation, predation by introduced species and the deadly fungal pathogen known as amphibian chytrid or Bd.
-
Unfortunately, some species have already disappeared, even from well-preserved forests in remote and protected areas.
-
Zoos in the US and all over the world are joining efforts to help rescue amphibians from extinction by breeding endangered species in captivity for reintroduction programs, studying the causes of extinction, and developing education programs to alert people about the problem.
-
The Philadelphia Zoo provides financial support and helps manage the Amphibian Conservation Center - Mazán Forest in Ecuador together with the local Zoo Amaru to help save critically endangered frogs from the Andes Mountains of South America.
-
The Amphibian Conservation Center - Mazán Forest is home to four critically endangered amphibians that will one day repopulate the now quiet forests of the Cajas National Park in Ecuador
-
Two of these amphibian residents are the green Cajas harlequin toad and the black Cajas harlequin toad that were thought to be extinct by now.
-
In addition, we have developed research and education programs in Ecuador to teach locals about the importance of amphibians.
-
The Philadelphia Zoo has a full-time staff conservation biologist, Dr. Carlos Martinez-Rivera, who spends most of his time in the field supporting the studies taking place on these at-risk amphibians.
To learn more about the conservation efforts at the Philadelphia Zoo, click here.