Philly Zoo Amphibian Conservationists Head To Ecuador
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Earth is loosing amphibians at an alarming rate and the sad thing is experts don't know exactly why.
The Philadelphia Zoo's Amphibian conservation biologist is currently in Southern Ecuador giving guidance to conservationist there.
The Philadelphia Zoo has established the Amphibian Conservation Center in the city of Cuenca. Partners there assist in a captive breeding program for 12 different local amphibian species, some of which were thought to be extinct.
The Philadelphia Zoo's Amphibian conservation biologist Dr. Carlos Martínez Rivera, has been mediating the project for about a decade. He is in Ecuador now devising plans to release the frogs they have been raising into the wild.
Kim Lengel is the Vice President of conservation and education at the Philadelphia Zoo.
"So he is there meeting with partners, with government officials, with land owners to talk about the next step to reintroducing these frog species back to their habitat."
Information gathered in Ecuador will be shared with children in assemblies in the Philadelphia area in the upcoming school year.
