The Philadelphia Zoo
International Amphibian Conservation
The Philadelphia Zoo’s Amphibian Conservation Program is dedicated to saving endangered amphibians through research, local capacity-building and the establishment of captive breeding programs both at the Zoo and in the field. We work with endangered amphibians from the Caribbean and Andean regions and undertake basic conservation and ecological research of these amphibian populations with the help of local researchers and villagers.
We work closely with many partners, including Amphibian Ark, ALPZA (Latin American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums), and local museums and governments to find suitable partners and establish new programs that meet our conservation goals.
The Philadelphia Zoo established the Amphibian Conservation Program in 2008 with the purpose of saving some of the 500 amphibian species threatened with extinction. The Program is a primary vehicle for saving critically endangered species from extinction. At no other time in human history have we faced such a challenge, when so many species were at immediate risk of becoming extinct. Today, amphibians are disappearing more quickly than any other species on Earth.
The five critically endangered harlequin toads studied in our conservation project are seen here. We are breeding the Green Cajas harlequin toad and the Black Cajas harlequin toad at our Amphibian Conservation Center in Ecuador. The Pastaza harlequin toad, thought to be extinct since 1980 and the jambato collarejo, last seen in 1985, were re-discovered by our team on 2009. The colorful Wampukrum is yet to be described by science, however data gathered by our native Shuar field technicians suggest a significant decline in this population, possibly due to the deadly Bd fungus. Another population is under threat from a construction project.