Related Resources
Reptile
Discovery Center
Year of the Frog
For
Kids
Reptiles
and Amphibians Photo Gallery
A Golden Opportunity
Adopt a Panamanian Golden Frog!
Celebrate the “Year of the Frog!” FONZ is offering a year-long special $65 Adopt package featuring the Panamanian golden frog. Help us celebrate with this golden opportunity! The package, which makes a wonderful gift, includes:
 |
The package comes in a custom carrier box sure to thrill anyone who receives it. |
Adopt a Panamanian Golden Frog!
Year of the Frog
One third to one half of the nearly 6,000 amphibian species are currently threatened with extinction. More than 120 species have gone extinct in the past few years. Earth is now facing the single largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs disappeared. Despite these bleak facts, there is hope! The National Zoo and other institutions worldwide have made 2008 the Year of the Frog, a scientific campaign to save amphibians from extinction.
Learn more about Year of the Frog.
Reasons to Save Frogs
Frogs matter for many reasons! They play a fundamental role in ecosystems and food webs, as both predator and prey. By eating pest insects, they help minimize the spread of insect-borne diseases and prevent them from damaging crops.
Frogs are a bio-indicator, which means they are often the first sign that an environment is being damaged. Like a “canary in the coal mine,” they act as an early warning sign for potentially dangerous pollutants. Their skin is highly permeable; allowing them to both breathe and drink through it, but this also allows contaminants to enter their bodies readily as well. Amphibian skin is special in other ways, often containing substances that help to protect them from microbes such as viruses. By studying these substances, scientists may be able to develop important medicines such as new antibiotics, and even HIV prevention.
A Flash of Gold
Panamanian golden frogs (Atelopus zeteki) are small toads, bright yellow with a few black spots or blotches decorating their back. They are found only in Panama on the cool, mountain slopes of the country’s west-central rainforest. Their bright gold color helps to advertise to predators that they are poisonous. As in poison dart frogs, their body contains toxins derived from the insects that they eat. They are listed by the IUCN as a critically endangered species.
On the Brink
Like many amphibian species, the Panamanian golden frog may already be extinct in the wild. They were affected by habitat loss, pollution and pesticides, climate change, introduced species, and over collection for use as food and pets. However, the biggest blow to golden frogs was infection with a chytrid fungus.
Chytrid is an introduced, parasitic fungus that is causing mass extinctions of amphibians as it spreads through South America and the rest of the world. It was first identified in 1999 by a team of scientists working here at the National Zoo. The species is being conserved in several zoo breeding populations throughout the world, one of which is housed here at the Zoo in our Reptile Discovery Center. The hope is that one day they may be safely released back into their native habitat.
In Need of Some Good Luck
Golden frogs are Panama’s national animal and are considered good luck. Their images can be found on many items in their country, including lottery tickets. They were revered by the Pre-Columbian indigenous people of Panama, who believed that when a golden frog died, it turned into a golden huaca, a sort of good luck talisman. Anyone who saw a golden frog or possessed a huaca would have good luck. Now these frogs need more than luck to recover from extinction. They also need your help.
Bring luck to both yourself and the frogs.
Adopt a Panamanian Golden Frog!
Because your contribution is dedicated directly to animal care, you truly make a difference!
