A sad day; the last Rabb's Fringe-limbed Treefrog at Atlanta Botanical Gardens has died, taking his species with him https://m.facebook.com/atlantabotan...0.80867.29424281550/10153933718536551/?type=3
Tragic news, indeed. Kudos to Atlanta Botanic Gardens, Atlanta Zoo, and EVACC for trying. More generally, and with some exceptions, the zoo community's response to the amphibian crisis really has been pathetic. This is a rare example of a taxon that could benefit hugely from the ex situ approach, and a golden opportunity for zoos to display their conservation relevance. A decade since the Amphibian Ark was launched and over a decade since the Global Amphibian Assessment, however, amphibians are still massively underrepresented in zoos and painfully underfunded in situ. But hey, if it isn't big, furry and popular with the public, WGASA right (monorail reference intended)?
Does this mean that he was normally on display? I had been under the impression that he was strictly off-show, at least in recent years.
yes, he was off-display for years. I think that was journalistic licence. (I just read a blog earlier this morning from the one of the people who looked after him - they were saying a lot of people ask about him, so they would put new photos on the blog when they could as updates). EDIT: it was this one from 2013 so may have been on display after that, but I don't think so. http://frogpodblog.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/rabbs-fringe-limbed-tree-frog-update.html
there's another article here, which also has some photos and a video showing the off-display area where the frog was kept. Rare tree frog dies in Atlanta marking last documented member of species | 11alive.com
The worst part for me is that I actually did see the Rabb's fringe-limbed tree frog(s) while at Zoo Atlanta, but I don't remember them (in Atlanta I was more focused on the aquarium) and have no pictures .
I think this is very sad. As jayjds2 suggests, some very endangered animals may make little impact on people. I remember seeing the only captive individual of Nduk eagle owl, while I was at London Zoo, but the notice didn't indicate how special it was. Similarly, I saw a northern white rhino at London Zoo, but I wasn't aware about how special it was.
Owls do seem to be one of those animals which visitors take for granted Similar to your example, the closely-related Fraser's Eagle Owl was held - as I have noted in my "Species We Have Lost" thread - at collections such as Antwerp and Olmen Balen until as recently as 2012, with other collections holding the species within the last few decades too; yet no one on Zoochat has ever posted a photograph of the species, or even recalled *seeing* them at said collections. Even this isn't as frustrating as the fact Shelley's Eagle Owl was held at Antwerp for over thirty years until as recently as 1990, given that this is a species known only from a total of 13 or 14 recorded specimens, and even fewer sightings in the wild. To my knowledge, the photograph illustrating this taxon on ZTL - presumably depicting the Antwerp specimen or one of the individuals held at Wassenaar in the 1970's - is the only image of a living Shelley's Eagle Owl in existence; when Owls of the World: A Photographic Guide was published in 2013, the taxon was illustrated only by photographs of a stuffed specimen held at Tring due to the fact the author could not locate any photographs of a living individual, wild or captive.
How many indiviuals were collected? If only a handfull of specimens were discovered, how could the zoo community ever saved the species? I do, though, agree with your statement. Several zoos have done great work for amphibians and turtles, both of which are going through a crisis at the moment, but most didn't. It's such a shame. If even half of the zoos in Europe and the US/Canada would fill just ONE room with vivaria housing endagered cold-bloods, dozens if not hundreds of species could be saved!
If you are referencing Rabb's frogs, I believe only five made it to the US, split between Zoo Atlanta and Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I'm not sure about any holdings outside of the US, though.
I agree with you, Mr Zootycoon. An average size zoo could build various small houses for small animals. I would prefer to see several species of amphibians, rather than a new exhibit for meerkats or other 'popular animals that zoo directors expect very visitor to want to see, even though many people have seen them already'. One of my favourite zoo buildings was the rodent house at Berlin Tierpark - basically a garden shed containing small mammals, such as cururos, gundis and dassie rats (yes, it did have an impact on me). So much space is taken up by ABC animals in many zoos, it is a great shame that many zoos ignore small species, even though new exhibits need not be prohibitively expensive. How much would it have cost several zoos to save the Rabb's fringe-limbed treefrog?
And another article : http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2...rs-when-extinction-silences-a-tree-frog/?_r=1
