Golden toad saved from brink of extinction
mongabay.comAugust 17, 2010
The species, which last year was declared extinct in the wild by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), was rehabilitated in captivity at the Bronx Zoo and the Toledo Zoo. Since 2004, when the toad was last seen in the wild, the captive population has climbed from a few hundred to nearly 7,000. For now, the toads—which unusually bear live young rather than laying eggs—reside in a new propagation center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, but plans are now in the works to eventually reintroduce the amphibian into its native habitat: the Kihansi Gorge in the Southern Udzungwa Mountains of South Central Tanzania, a region that possess the greatest biodiversity in all of Tanzania.
 A diminutive Kihansi spray toad newborn rests on the back of an adult female. Reared at the Bronx Zoo, these amphibians—now extinct in the wild—are part of an international program to reintroduce the Kihansi spray toad back into its former habitat in Tanzania. (credit: Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society). |
"On behalf of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, we are very grateful to the Bronx Zoo and The Toledo Zoo for taking care of these precious toads for ten years,” said Anna Maembe on behalf of the Government of Tanzania. "We are very optimistic that they will acclimatize soon and be taken to their homeland in Kihansi Gorge in the near future."
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| Kihansi Gorge in Tanzania prior to the construction of the dam. The ladders in the top picture were placed along side the falls to access the Upper-Upper Spray Zone for survey and monitoring. PHOTO BY TIM DAVENPORT / WCS. | ||
Facing almost certain extinction in the wild, the World Bank partnered with the Tanzanian government, the Toledo Zoo, and WCS's Bronx Zoo, to save the species through a captive breeding program. Now the captive population in U.S. institutions have a level where 100 toads can go back to Tanzania.
"This is an important step that has been achieved through a lot of hard work," said Jane Kibbassa, Task Team Leader for the Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project which has installed a new sprinklers system to replicate the toad's habitat. "The Bank has financed Tanzania's commitment to save the Kihansi spray toad for nearly a decade, and has been looking forward to a successful reintroduction, which will be a measure of the recovery of the ecosystem and the success of the Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project."
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(02/02/2010) The Bronx Zoo has a put a most unusual frog on display: the Kihansi spray toad. For one thing, the Kihansi spray toad survived on only 5 acres in the Kihansi gorge in Tanzania, adapted to the areas' unique and constant mist from the gorge and a waterfall. For another, female Kihansi spray toads give birth to live young, instead of laying eggs. Finally, the Kihansi spray toad is extinct—at least in the wild.
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