Habitat 49 Summer 2017

2 | June/July/August 2017 At the dawn of the new millennium, the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) responded to what appeared to be a new, monumental global crisis facing amphibians by assuming a leadership role in amphibian conservation and research. At the time, most scientists were shocked at learning that about 30 percent of the planet’s 6,000 amphibian species were threatened with extinction due to habitat loss, climate change, pollution, infectious diseases and other factors. Sadly, since then those numbers have jumped to nearly half of the world’s known 7,660 amphibian species. When the National Amphibian Conservation Center opened in 2000 at the Detroit Zoo, it was the first major facility dedicated entirely to conserving and exhibiting amphibians. The state-of-the-art amphibian center, which received the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) National Exhibit Award, is home to a spectacular diversity of frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians – prompting The Wall Street Journal to declare the facility “Disneyland for toads”! It remains unparalleled in size, scope and impact. The DZS remains a leader in amphibian conservation efforts and continues to engage in dozens of cooperative breeding programs with many of the 232 AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums in North America. Our breeding program for the federally endangered Wyoming toad – listed as extinct in the wild in 1994 – landed at No. 1 on the AZA’s list of the Top 10 Wildlife Conservation Success Stories. In 2014, we produced a record 3,945 tadpoles for release (we have released more than 8,000 tadpoles, toadlets and toads in Wyoming’s protected Laramie Basin since the program’s inception in 1995). Establishing a new population of these amphibians in their natural environment is a triumph for conservation. Nearly two decades of breeding efforts for the critically endangered Puerto Rican crested toad – a program that won AZA’s Conservation Award – yielded the best results in DZS history in 2015 with a record 22,571 tadpoles. Imagine the time it took for our staff to count them all! We retained 20 tadpoles for future breeding at the National Amphibian Conservation Center while the rest were shipped to a safe area in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. It’s very gratifying to place these zoo-born animals into the wild. These are just two examples of the significant strides we are making in amphibian conservation. We have also focused our efforts on other endangered amphibians such as the dusky gopher frog, Panamanian golden frog, crawfish frog and others. Amphibians are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. When hundreds of species of an entire class of animal are in decline, it signals a threat to many other species and should be understood by us all as an environmental crisis. Your Detroit Zoo remains committed to the important work of saving amphibians – and many other animals – at home, across the country and around the world. From the Director Ron Kagan Executive Director/CEO Detroit Zoological Society H ABITAT Celebrating and Saving Wildlife T h e M a g a z i n e o f t h e D e t r o i t Z o o l o g i c a l S o c i e t y Habitat is produced quarterly for Members of the Detroit Zoological Society. EDITED BY Graphinity, Inc. CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jennifer Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT ArborOakland Group GRAPHIC DESIGN Graphinity, Inc. Copyright © 2017 Detroit Zoological Society All rights reserved. PLEASE CONTACT: Detroit Zoological Society 8450 W. 10 Mile Road Royal Oak, MI 48067 Phone: (248) 541-5717 Fax: (248) 541-2489 www.detroitzoo.org For questions about membership, please contact: info@dzs.org. facebook.com/detroitzoo youtube.com/detroitzoo twitter.com/detroitzoo instagram.com/detroitzoo Printed in the USA. The Detroit Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. The Detroit Zoological Society – a renowned leader in education, conservation, animal welfare and sustainability – operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Center.