Limosa Harlequin Toad (Atelopus limosus) & RTPI in New Scientist
In the 60 years that the illustrious journal New Scientist has been around they’ve never run a photo-led feature. I’m very proud and honored that they decided to break with that tradition with a story on our work with endangered frogs in Panama. Our research on a population of the exceedingly rare Limosa Harlequin Toad (Atelopus limosus) in Cocobolo Nature Reserve in Panama will hopefully give us more information on why these frogs are seemingly doing alright while its surrounding populations are going extinct. And with some luck, that information can help direct conservation...
Read MoreMeet SAM Tonight!
The Hellbender: New York’s Living Fossil – Tonight at 7:00PM The Eastern Hellbender is a unique salamander found only in the eastern United States. Hellbenders are “living fossils” that have remained virtually unchanged for millions of years, giving us a glimpse into our ecological past. In recent years, this iconic species has declined significantly in New York and throughout its entire range. Join conservation biologist Robin Foster to learn more about the hellbender and how you can help to conserve this amazing amphibian! Please join us at RTPI (311 Curtis St., Jamestown, NY) at 7:00 for...
Read MoreChasing Hellbenders
It’s a beautiful sunny morning when I join biologists, students and techs from the University of Buffalo and NYS DEC to evaluate a stream for a particularly unique species of amphibian. We dawn our waders and lug our equipment to the water’s edge. The water is still relatively cool and is rolling over the rocky bottom of the river in which we enter. With nets in hand and special poles used to lift large rocks, we begin to evaluate the stream bottom for suitable places a secretive salamander might live. As we find a massive rock along the river floor, we surround it as it is...
Read MoreGray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)
Sean has been hearing them every night on the main sanctuary at Audubon Greenwich, but had not had the chance to find one to photograph. A few nights ago one came to him! When he went to shut a window late one night he found this Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) had hopped in. He does not think he has ever been delivered a Meet Your Neighbours subject so nicely. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Connecticut for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
Read MoreBouncing Babies
Here we have some bouncing baby…umm, boys and girls I would guess. These spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) babies will soon be hatching from their globular masses and become veracious predators in the little vernal pools in which they temporarily reside. As they feed and grow, they will be racing against the clock in order to develop from free swimming legless tadpoles into four legged land dwellers before their nursery pool dries out towards the end of the summer. Talk about rapid development! Elyse Henshaw Conservation Technician
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