Amphibian Conservation Center – Mazán Forest, Ecuador
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Figure 1. Dire statistics. A. Of the 6,000 amphibian species found in the World today; 2,469 are declining in numbers; 1,856 are threatened; 120 have not been seen since 1980; 1,294 are lacking basic information. Examples of amphibians under different levels of conservation concern B. Green Cajas harlequin toad Atelopus exiguus (Ecuador - Critically endangered), C. Tri-color poison frog Epipedobates anthonyi (Ecuador - Near threatened); D. Cave salamander Eurycea lucifaga (USA - Least concern).
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The Amphibian Conservation Center – Mazán Forest is a holistic conservation program created to save four critically endangered amphibian species. It is located inside the Mazán Forest adjacent to the Cajas National Park in the Andean Mountains near the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. The Philadelphia Zoo provides 100 percent of the project funding. Other partners are Zoo Amaru, a local zoo and the Cajas National Park. The Zoo is also the main scientific collaborator engaged in research, captive breeding and management of wild amphibian populations.
The species the project is working to save are: the green Cajas harlequin toad,
Atelopus exiguus; the black Cajas harlequin toad,
Atelopus nanay; the San Lucas marsupial frog,
Gastrotheca pseustes; and the Andean rocket frog,
Hyloxalus vertebralis. The existing populations of these species are no longer viable in the wild and will disappear soon if no action is taken. We have established assurance colonies for these species at our in-range,
ex-situ breeding center in Mazán Forest. We have designed species survival plans for each of them, including guidelines for
in-situ research to gather data for the eventual re-introduction phase, and we continuously monitor the health and number of wild populations. The goals of the project are to: (1) Identify and mitigate the specific causes of the population collapse for each species at the landscape level; (2) Repopulate the wild populations of these species via our ark/rescue
ex-situ conservation program; (3) Monitor the existing populations along with the newly established populations to observe their progress in the wild; and (4) work with the park rangers and the local urban and rural communities to increase awareness of the amphibian extinction crisis and engage local communities in Ecuador as well as the Zoo public here in Philadelphia to help us gather data and directly conserve these critically endangered species.