Ribbeting news! More than 260 mountain yellow-legged frogs and over 680 tadpoles were released into the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains. Radio-telemetry transmitters were implanted in some of the adults, so researchers can keep track of these hoppy frogs and learn about their habitat requirements.
The mountain yellow-legged frog, which once hopped throughout California’s upper elevations, have dropped more than 90 percent in the past decade due to chytrid, a skin fungus that thickens the frog’s skin so they can’t breathe. Researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara and the Oakland Zoo are collaborating to create an inoculation procedure against the fungus. Frogs who have received inoculations are then released back to the wild and monitored by Fish and Wildlife biologists.
