Mountain yellow-legged frog in the wild.
It has been a while since we last updated readers on the status of the mountain yellow-legged frog Rana muscosa recovery program at the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research (see post, Frog Blog). The long-term goal of the program is to reintroduce the offspring of our managed-care colony back into the wild to supplement the critically endangered Southern California population of mountain yellow-legged frogs.
Frank Santana
Before we get into it too much, let us introduce ourselves. My name is Frank Santana and I am a research technician and graduate student in ecology at SDSU (San Diego State University). Helping me out this summer with the frog research is our summer Fellow, James Liu. James is a fourth-year ecology, behavior, and evolution major at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and currently has one quarter of school remaining as he finishes a minor in conservation biology.
James Liu
Our goal this summer is to get the mountain yellow-legged frog off the federal endangered species list. If that doesn’t pan out, maybe we’ll set more bite-sized goals. Some things we’d REALLY like to accomplish are:
1) Manage our captive population of 65 frogs at the San Diego Zoo’s Beckman Center for Conservation Research and establish a successful captive-breeding program.
2) Work with other zoos to establish populations of mountain yellow-legged frogs in captivity.
3) Conduct field research of the frogs in their natural environment to determine habitat use patterns, observe thermoregulatory behaviors, describe activity patterns, and record frog calls.
4) Determine suitable field sites for future release of captive-bred offspring.
Over the next few months, James and I will chronicle our adventures and discoveries in our quest to save the mountain yellow-legged frog.
Frank Santana is a research technician in the Applied Animal Ecology Division of the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.
James Liu is a summer fellow at the Institute for Conservation Research.
I will be sharing this with my son. He has a love for all things frog and is saving money to donate to The Amphibian Ark.
Thank you for saving the mountain yellow-legged frog! Fantastic work you are both doing. Awesome shades, James.
Those are some really cool amphibs! Seems odd they live so high in the mountains… doesn’t it get really cold at night? In the winter? Do they hibernate? What can people do “down here” to help them survive?? Thanks so much for your field work efforts!
Kristal – That’s awesome! I remember as a kid looking through creeks in the Bay Area and finding tadpoles of Pacific Chorus frogs, Western Toads, CA newts, and Red-legged frogs. You should try and take your son out hiking in some of SD’s creeks (stay on trails though!) during the spring and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of frogs. I know seeing them in the wild sure sparked a love of all things amphibian in me and filled my tiny head with questions. Right now is probably too hot, unfortunately….keep following as I will be posting lots more pictures!
Zoodog – The MYLF historically ranged all the way down to the foothills (1200 ft or so) so right now these populations are at the very extreme of their environmental tolerance. Another reason reintroductions are so important, as I’m sure their mortality in these extreme areas is higher. Tadpoles and frogs often must burrow deep in the mud of pools below the frost line where the water stays above freezing during winter. Adults can often get enough oxygen simply via gas exchange through their skin.
As for helping the frogs down here…there’s tons you can do! A new big thing would be simply to conserve water. Using excess water to water your lawn every day lowers the water table and the frogs’ high elevation pools dry up more quickly. Also, don’t support trout fishing or the commercial trade of bullfrogs! They are the two worst introduced predators. And lastly, SPREAD THE WORD! the more people who know about these guys the better chance we have at saving them. Thanks for reading and I hope you find our next post even more riveting.
Moderator’s note: Or is that “ribbeting”? We’ll be posting a new blog from James next week.
When are you going to post more pictures?
Moderator’s note: Check out a recent post from James, http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/blog/2009/08/18/frog-blog-my-first-fieldtrip/
Keep up the great work Frank – you are amazing!
Awesome work trying to protect these cool herps.
Remember to contact me whenever you need help finding herps, would be nice to scout something else ones in a while, herping in the Amazon rainforest gets kinda old, not?
PS; I’ve found you that huge 9 foot Boa constrictor, contact me and i’ll send you the pictures.
awsome! i own 3 green frogs and a toad!
Keep up the great work Frank – you are amazing!
this is so necessary. thanks for the good work. if you’re interested, check out my thesis at Sonoma State (SSU): Vocal Behavior of Foothill and Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs. 1997.
Really a great work you guys are doing with the yellow-legged frog. I hope alll turns out well and you are able to save the little buggers. I always a joy to trek out into the wild and view whats been created. Once again I wish you total success with your indeavors.