Reptiles and Amphibians: What can WE do?

Life in Cold blood was a wonderful series. There were some amazing clips of animals, which I had never even heard of before.

But there were also clips of some animals which, for the time being, cannot be filmed in the wild. The golden frog, has now become extinct in the wild, and with the problems facing amphibians, how many more are we set to lose?

In the Last Episode, David Attenborough spoke about some of the species which had been filmed, and were in great risk of extinction. He urged us to try and be aware of the situation, but is that enough?

I'm really worried about these animals, and I'd like to do something to help. One person can make a difference, but I thought, that if we work together, we could achieve something great, raising money for the animals that, soon could disappear from our planet.

If you have any ideas of things to do, could you please post them.

Also: If you have any ideas of reptiles or Amphibians that are rare (But could be used as ambassadors for the rest of the animals in these orders) could you post their common name, and scientific name.

Thank you very much for your support,

Jonathan

 

Subscribe to some conservation organization? There are plenty orientated towards habitat preservation. And plenty at least about turtles and crocs.

EDGE project of amphibians, started by London ZSL, should have some links how to help.

Sign online petitions, of course, after thinking if they are credible.

cheers,

 

Well, for info on endangered amphibians, EDGE is the place to go.

I am almost done with a whole new secton for Zoos.dk in danish about conservation. It is a project that I am working on with my "sister-site" Nordiczoos.dk, with the purpose to increase the awareness of endangered species here in Denmark. It is about all endangered animals, e.g mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and all the others. The project will be in cooperation with different zoos in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Our first partner is Crocodile Zoo. I am very exited about this project .

Here is a crazy idea: Maybe all us ZooBeat members with our own sites should do a joint "Amphibian Conservation Awareness Project"? We could each host articles on our sites, written by each other, and provided with pictures and stories from around the world. Maybe it's a bit too ambitious, but I think that we can pull it off. Naturally, anything contributed to this project (articles, pictures, vidoes, etc...) would be free for all the sites to use.

What do you think, and how many would be interested in helping with such a project?

 

I'd be interested in Helping with that Toddy, great Idea.

Jurek, I'll have a look into conservation groups..

 

Writhedhornbill, if your attention is not yet filled with amphibians, two bird conservation groups really need support:

Oriental Bird Club (OBC | home)
African Bird Club (African Bird Club | Birds, birding and conservation in Africa)

Both do very much for little-known birds and habitats in Africa and Asia, and here your contribution really can make a difference. Maybe more than in "giants" like WWF. I remember dramatic letter some years ago urging birders to visit some reserves in Great African Rift, because without ecotourism it will rapidly be cut for firewood.

Both have enthusiastic people. And OBC has wonderful image gallery: Oriental Bird Club Image Database : Welcome

 

I've seen the Bid club database, But I haven't seen those two clubs before, Thanks again Jurek.

 

Research the areas of the world where the disappearance is greatest/ where the funding for work is lowest....organise work placements at any of the new amphibian arks that open in the UK over the next year or few....support the establishment of these financially, pursue higher education subjects that allow you to work with amphibians later in life....er...and this is debatable, but you could become 'carbon neutral'....(get yr electric switched to a green energy supplier, stop using car transport, become a vegan, eat locally-produced food, join a tree-planting scheme, and bingo! Loads of frogs!..

Amphibians are really one of the best cases for taking many animals into captivity; they are easily propogated once the correct formula for that species has been found, the greatest threats to wild populations are temporary in their nature (fungal infections/ climate fluctuations) but also indiscriminate, and the space required in captivity to house large numbers is negligible compared to that required for birds or mammals.

Or, you could get experience with various established collections and start to keep your own amphibians, housing rarer species and surplus animals that required space as you gained in experience. There are many people in the UK breeding and maintaining groups of rare amphibians, in fact the current network of private breeders should be factored into the national 'amphibian ark' capacity, I wonder how many 'Frog World's this actually counts for. Generally there are specialist breeder's groups across the UK. I would dearly love to do this if I had the time.

whatever happened to the Amphibian Breeding Centre at Martin Mere?

 

Reptiles

I wish people would not have the idea that if they see a snake , they should kill it . And real education about snakes is vital . Currimbin sanctuary has provided the best snake demo that I have seen . It tries to show people how to behave if they come across a snake -- leave it alone , and give it room to escape .
They also gave a demo on correct first aid for snake bite .

Unlike Australian Zoo when I was there ......" Crikey , this ones really dangerous !! One drop of venom can kill dozens of fit strong men ....."
add nauseum ......

OK , a taipan would rank amongst the top venomous snakes in the world , but so what ?! A more pragmatic approach that educated people to leave it alone rather than to panic and try to kill it might result in a few less snake bite incidents ?

When I was at Taiping Zoo there was a snake dealer that had a couple of Burmese pythons , inviting people to face their fears of snakes and to have a close encounter with one of the pythons . A number of people thought that snakes are slimy , have poisonous tongues , and are ultra aggressive ....
After being persuaded to hold the snake , they discovered that they had some wrong fallacies .

I do not promote the idea of having venomous snakes as pets , but there still needs to be a lot more education about snakes , and the good work they do in keeping down rat populations etc