The Last 14 Loa Water Frogs Had to Be Rescued From Their Natural Habitat
The lone Chilean stream where the frogs live had been dried up by illegal water extraction
A Loa water frogs rescued near the city of Calama, Chile. (Ministry of Housing and Urbanism of Chile)
By Brigit Katz
smithsonian.com
August 30, 2019
In June of this year, herpetologist Andrés Charrier took some of his colleagues to view the Loa water frog, a small and speckled critter that dwells exclusively in a stream outside the Chilean city of Calama. But upon arriving at the site, the group found that the stream was dry—and the population of water frogs, already critically endangered, seemed to have shrunk to just 14 sickly individuals that languished in a pool of muddy water.
“It’s something we talk about all the time—frogs are at risk, animals and the environment are at risk, climate change and drought, extreme weather conditions,” Charrier tells Megan Shersby of BBC Wildlife. “But I have been working in conservation for the last 10 years with frogs and I never expected to see something like this.”
The team, which consisted of conservationists, government officials and indigenous leaders, knew that time for the Loa water frog, or Telmatobius dankoi, was running out fast. So they collected the paltry group of surviving individuals and transported them to the National Zoo of Chile—with the hope of eventually launching a breeding program.
Some 63 species of the genus Telmatobius can be found across South America, making their homes in such countries as Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina. Like the Loa water frog, most Telmatobius species are microendemic, meaning that their range is restricted to a single, small location. This in turn makes them highly vulnerable to changes to their habitat; in fact, according to Sabrina Imbler of Atlas Obscura, the majority of recognized Telmatobius are endangered.
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/last-14-loa-water-frogs-had-be-rescued-their-natural-habitat-180973023/#z8ErJlPjGQE3rc5j.99
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