Frog Conservation in Panama One of the perks of having a local guide when traveling is access to opportunities you may not otherwise have. One of ours was the chance to visit a frog conservation facility & speak directly with one of the biologists who founded it, Edgardo Griffith. I must admit, - ThreadSky

krismgates.bsky.social • 15 hours ago

Frog Conservation in Panama
One of the perks of having a local guide when traveling is access to opportunities you may not otherwise have. One of ours was the chance to visit a frog conservation facility & speak directly with one of the biologists who founded it, Edgardo Griffith. I must admit,

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krismgates.bsky.social•15 hours ago

this was an emotional low point for me, as the fate of the frogs seems doomed, & even Griffith appeared to question his sanity at devoting decades of his life (& marriage, as the 2nd founder is his wife, biologist Heidi Ross, who now leads the center as Director) to a task that may prove impossible.

krismgates.bsky.social•15 hours ago

But as he said, how could they not try?
The El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center opened in 2007, housing a tree frog conservation project that began in the late 1990s. In this case, the source of the frogs’ problem is not habitat loss, hunting, or other human cause, but a fungus that invades

krismgates.bsky.social•15 hours ago

their skins & disrupts their breathing. It’s theorized that the fungus traveled on the boots of people & was spread throughout the tropics. They don’t even know how many species have already been lost, but it’s likely in the hundreds or even thousands. There’s apparently no chance of eradicating the

krismgates.bsky.social•15 hours ago

fungus, so efforts focus on breeding frogs with a natural immunity that can be released into the wild. The Golden Frog, a bright yellow frog with black spots, became the public mascot of this project; it now only exists in captivity. In fact, it is celebrated in Panama on August 14, el día de la

krismgates.bsky.social•15 hours ago

rana dorada. (Our hotel in El Valle was also named The Golden Frog.) This project has been supported by US zoos (Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Detroit, Los Angeles) and institutions (Nat Geo, Smithsonian) which host frog breeding frog programs, provide funding, and educate on the topic. We toured the

krismgates.bsky.social•15 hours ago

aquariums of “show frogs” of some of the target species, which included mostly frogs but also a few toads, snakes, and lizards. As you can imagine, the room was at a temperature comfortable for frogs rather than humans! We made some cash donations & made some froggy purchases at the gift shop, and

goodport.bsky.social•14 hours ago

Thanks for sharing this, Kris.
I honor these folks, and wouldn’t want to live in a world where we didn’t try to save things because of a low chance for success.

krismgates.bsky.social•14 hours ago

You're right. Especially these days, we cannot give in to despair.

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