Aquarium of the Pacific raising endangered yellow-legged frog tadpoles that call Southern California mountains home

The Aquarium of the Pacific has welcomed tadpoles — which volition turn into endangered yellow-legged frogs — that were rescued from section wildfire-scorched mountains, officials for the Long Beach aquarium announced this week.

Yellow-legged frogs are critically endangered. Fires past twelvemonth successful the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains — wherever the amphibians are a autochthonal taxon — made matters adjacent worse.

So national and authorities wildlife agencies asked section institutions to instrumentality successful the rescued tadpoles.

The Aquarium of the Pacific not lone obliged, but it besides built a laboratory to location the amphibians arsenic portion of a conservation effort to summation their numbers successful the wild. The tadpoles volition beryllium raised determination and yet released into the wild.

“We built this installation astatine our Aquarium specifically for these upland yellow-legged frogs to bash our portion to assistance their populations recover,” Brett Long, the aquarium’s curator, said successful a statement.

The frogs marque their location successful chill streams, astatine astir 45 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1 of the specifications of the aquarium’s laboratory truthful these amphibians tin person the champion attraction possible.

The United States Geological Survey, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Santa Ana Zoo and UCLA were among the different institutions that took successful the tadpoles.

The utmost upwind conditions that pb to wildfires and drought person threatened Yellow-legged frogs. The chytrid fungus, which causes life-threatening illness successful amphibians worldwide, has besides wounded the species’ numbers.

“Supporting this conservation effort, respecting signs announcing areas disconnected limits to the nationalist erstwhile visiting these section mountains, and reducing your c footprint,” Long said, “are each things anyone who is funny successful helping tin do.”

Sign up for The Localist, our regular email newsletter with handpicked stories applicable to wherever you live. Subscribe here.