 The Lake Titicaca frog (Telmatobius culeus), the world’s largest aquatic frog, is endemic to its namesake lake. Against the backdrop of snow capped mountains, Lake Titicaca straddles 2,000 square miles of Peruvian and Bolivian landscape at 12,500 feet above sea level. Life at this altitude is adapted for extremes: high levels of ultraviolet radiation, freezing temperatures, and oxygen depleted air. The critically endangered Titicaca frogs survive here and nowhere else in the world.
People harvest Lake Titicaca frogs for human consumption. Titicaca frog legs are popular on tourist menus around the lake. Local people also use Titicaca frogs in traditional medicine. Lately the demand for Titicaca frogs seems to be growing.
In 2007, Denver Zoo sent Tom Weaver, a Tropical Discovery (TD) amphibian keeper, to Lima, Peru, to develop an action plan for the Zoo to assist in the conservation of Lake Titicaca frogs. This plan includes creating a lab at the university to house Lake Titicaca frogs, screening the animals for the deadly chytrid fungus and other amphibian diseases, and assisting in a field survey of the lake and markets, including genetic testing of the frogs.
 Meghan Rubinstein, Conservation Education Coordinator, and Matt Herbert, Outreach Manager, also traveled to Peru in March 2008 to assess the education needs for the Lake Titicaca Frog conservation program. An amphibian crisis workshop held in September 2008 determined Peru’s most endangered amphibians, and the Huachipa Zoo will house these species in their new exhibit. Denver Zoo provided funding for field biologists to travel to this workshop. The workshop not only helped determine the status of these species, but also created improved collaboration among many key stakeholders in the fight against amphibian extinction, such as the university, both zoos, and pertinent herpetologists.
This conservation project began at a pertinent time for amphibian extinction prevention during 2008, which the Association of Zoos and Aquariums declared the Year of the Frog. To save Lake Titicaca frogs and other amphibians, Denver Zoo will continue its commitment to amphibian conservation both by focusing on threats to Lake Titicaca frog populations and addressing the global amphibian crisis in Peru and around the world.
|
