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'Miracle' as London Zoo welcomes 15 critically endangered baby frogs
The 15 froglets mark the first captive breeding of the species, and conservationists aim to build a population for future release in Ghana.
- Staff at London Zoo are celebrating a world first: the birth of 15 critically endangered Afia Birago's puddle frogs. This marks the first time the species has successfully bred under human care anywhere in the world.
- The births follow the arrival of 20 adult frogs from Ghana last year as part of an emergency conservation programme involving ZSL, Herp Conservation Ghana, and the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute.
- Found only in Ghana's Atewa Hills Forest Reserve, the species survives in just two pools threatened by mining. The froglets currently measure about 5mm long, roughly the size of a pencil tip.
- Unnar Aevarsson, an amphibian keeper at ZSL, said the team developed breeding protocols needed to give the frogs "the best chance of survival." Ben Tapley, ZSL's curator of reptiles and amphibians, called their arrival "a huge step forward."
- The wider goal is for partners in Ghana to establish sustainable conservation populations supporting recovery in the wild. Caleb Ofori-Boateng, the Ghanaian conservationist who identified the species, said: "I named this frog after my mother so that her legacy would live on.
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Animal protectors celebrate the breeding success of five millimetres of small frog larvae as a breakthrough for the survival of the endangered species.
·Kassel, Germany
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Specialists will look for reproduction techniques to protect this threatened amphibian
World premiere in London: 15 puddle frogs from Ghana threatened with extinction. A breakthrough for global amphibious protection and conservation.
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Total News Sources13
Leaning Left1Leaning Right2Center6Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Center
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
67% Center
11%
C 67%
R 22%
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