29 Apr Breaking Barriers: Celebrating a Conservation Milestone
A species that I have never heard of before, the Cinnamon Frog, has experienced a breakthrough in a wildlife park in Europe!
“Keepers at the Cotswold wildlife park in Burford have again bred the near-threatened cinnamon frog, four years after it became only the second zoological collection in Europe to breed the species.”
The Cinnamon Frog is native to South-East Asia, inhabiting areas such as the Malay Peninsula, the Philippines, Sumatra, Thailand, and Singapore. One of the strongest threats against this species is a fungus called Chytrid fungus. This infectious fungus is one that affects many different species.
When it comes to facilitating the breeding of near-threatened species such as the cinnamon frog, “many frog species have incredibly specific requirements, and it is a testament to their hard work that they have now managed to replicate our previous success with the cinnamon frogs. With the perilous state of many amphibian species in the world due to the Chytrid fungus, any expertise garnered from the captive populations may well be important tools for the future of these fascinating creatures.”
Any and all information that we can gather while we care for animals in a captive situation, it can be applied to help protect the species in the wild. We are able to facilitate a better understanding of what the species needs to survive. Especially when it comes to behavioral tendencies and environmental preferences to successfully breed. Animals will only partake in breeding behavior when they feel as though they can successfully sustain themselves as well as their offspring so if there are not the correct circumstances for amphibians for instances such as temperature, humidity, shelter, and food then the individuals are less likely to breed. So by fully understanding the species we are able to create appropriate conditions for them to thrive.
This is where the importance of research comes into play! Not only are we able to use the information that is gathered for their care in captivity but by understanding the needs of the species we can spread that knowledge which ultimately helps all who are in captive care as well as move forward in protecting their natural habitat to work towards establishing a protected self sustaining wild population once again!
Read the full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/24/near-threatened-cinnamon-frog-species-successfully-bred-in-uk
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