The Amphibian Ark

Who we are

Amphibian Ark www.amphibianark.org was created in 2006 by the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) to develop, support and promote ex situ activities that lead to the conservation and survival of amphibians. The Amphibian Ark's vision is: World's amphibians safe in nature and its mission: Working in partnerships to ensure the global survival of amphibians – focusing on those that can't be safeguarded in nature.

Editorial
by Dr. Kevin Zippel - Amphibian Ark Program Officer

2007 has been a busy year for AArk!  We have hired three wonderful and talented people to fill two new AArk positions...

News

Training and Capacity Building

  During 2007 Amphibian Ark has organized four amphibian husbandry workshops, assisted by Kevin Zippel (AArk Program Officer), Richard Gibson (AArk Taxon Officer) and Gerry Marantelli (AArk Steering Committee). More than 200 people including zoo curators, specialists, university professors and students, have taken advantage of these courses. Two more courses are coming: the Venezuelan Amphibian Management Course (September) and the 2nd AZA Amphibian Biology and Management Course (October).

Technical Advice on Species Prioritization

Richard Gibson and Kevin Johnson, Amphibian Ark's taxon officers, worked with AZA on prioritizing species from North America, Mexico and Puerto Rico at Ft. Worth Zoo - Texas (US), from July 30 to August 3, 2007. During the workshop Richard and Kevin led  the discussions and with the group's input  they worked through the latest edition of the AArk Species Prioritization tool.

2008 Year of the Frog

During 2008 AArk will lead zoos in a globally coordinated public awareness campaign "The Year of the Frog." The main goal of this campaign is to generate public awareness and understanding of the amphibian extinction crisis - the greatest species conservation challenge for humanity. The money raised from this global campaign will help fund initiatives such as training courses, technical guidance, taxon survival efforts, partnership development, capacity building and communications. All these activities will ensure sustainability of the survival assurance populations of amphibians far beyond 2008.

AArk Databases

The AArk has a number of valuable amphibian contact lists, a meetings calendar, and databases, with more to be added in the future. The home page for these databases is the Amphibian Ark team portal at http://portal.isis.org/partners/AARK/Lists/Amphibian%20contacts%202/Summary%20view.aspx

ACAP Proceedings

The text of the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan Proceedings: IUCN/SSC Amphibian Conservation Summit 2005 can be downloaded at www.amphibianark.downloads

Job Opportunities

AArk is looking for a Training Officer:

Donations

We thank the following donors:

Future Meetings

Photo Credits

Photo used for the newsletter banner: Litoria infrafrenata, White-lipped Tree Frog, by Shirley Stanford.

Photos used in this newsletter: Phillobates terribilis, Dandrobates truncatus, Dendrobates lehmanni, Caecilia subdermalis by Francisco José López-López. Contact information: Francisco José López-López, Biologist from Universidad del Cauca, Popayán Colombia. franciscojoselopez@gmail.com Taxonomia y Sistematica de Anfibios y Reptiles, Universidad del Cauca, Popoayán, Colombia. Calle 27 DN # 7-46 Phone: (092) 8233511 -3164206485