#atelopus

Panama’s golden frogs beat extinction

The amphibians are returning to the wild 17 years after a deadly fungus nearly wiped them out.

It’s been 17 years since the bright yellow Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) hopped through its native habitat. But after nearly two decades of hard work, conservationists are finally reintroducing a new generation of the tiny fluorescent amphibians back into the tropical island’s ecosystem. It wasn’t that long ago that golden frogs were staring down almost certain extinction. The saga began in the late 1980s, when an invasive fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) arrived in lower Central America. Soon, Bd spores spread throughout Panama. The fungal spores had no difficulty traveling through water—and because golden frogs only live close to streams, they soon encountered the fungus themselves...

A Cayenne stubfoot toad (Atelopus flavescens) in Mont Grand Matoury Nature Reserve, French Guiana.

Today’s favourite frog is Atelopus igenscens

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Because I found a jar of them (I think) on the shelf in the museum today. Sitting there for decades without having been identified. Meanwhile, they’ve been declared extinct and then rediscovered again.

Favourite dinosaurs today are buttonquail chicks (multiple, preferably cupped in the hand).

Green mosaic harlequin frog (Atelopus cruciger)

Happy Froggie Friday! Today I finally am finished with my purple harlequin toad drawing. Done in a gouache underlayer with pastel pencils and colored pencils on pastelmat.

Prints - www.grayghostcreations.etsy.com

💜🐸💜