Metamorphosis (written for a Detroit Zoological Society annual report)
Everyone knows tadpoles turn into frogs, but few of us actually see it happen. That will change next year when the Detroit Zoo opens the National Amphibian Conservation Center. Site preparation was recently begun for the Center, across Island Lake from the Holden Museum of Living Reptiles and Amphibians.
Among the Center’s attractions will be the overhead aquarium where viewers will see tadpoles in various stages of their metamorphosis into frogs and an immersion area like the Zoo’s aviary and butterfly/hummingbird garden. There will even be an “underground” exhibit of burrowing caccilians (sah SEAL yuns), worm-like amphibians rarely seen by humans.
The center will be bordered by a pond and wetlands area, where visitors can observe Michigan amphibians in their natural habitat. The facility is the first of its kind worldwide.
“We’ll be able to show a cross-section of the amphibian world, from the smallest to the biggest, the gaudiest to the drabbest, from the Northern and Southern hemispheres,” said Andy Snider, the Detroit Zoo’s Curator of Herpetology, which includes reptiles and amphibians.
In addition to animal and habitat experiences, there will be interactive displays about amphibian life, river and stream exhibits, a classroom and even a walk-through cave.
The Zoo originally planned to create a regional center. After hosting a conference of 16 internationally renowned amphibian specialists, it was encouraged to expand its vision. The Center will not only exhibit amphibians – up to 1,000 of more than 60 species – it will also focus research on the many vital questions that surround the current worldwide decline of frogs, toads, news and salamanders.
One goal of the Center is to teach Zoo visitors about these creatures’ significance as indicators of environmental conditions. Amphibians often serve as the linchpins of entire ecosystems, said Snider. When habitat is polluted or destroyed, amphibian species that live there are usually devastated along with it. When the amphibians go, the species they prey on and those that prey on them are affected as well. The whole ecosystem can be destroyed.
Amphibians function as nature’s early warning system. Like the canary in the mine shaft, which warned miners when carbon monoxide levels became dangerously high, amphibians around the world warn us of pollution damage to our own environment.
They are more vulnerable than other animals because they live part of their live in water and part in air, Snider explained. “Their skin is very permeable, so their bodies absorb pollutants from both water and air.” Deformed frogs have started showing up in lakes and rivers across the United States, sending humans the message that it’s time to do some cleaning up.
The Detroit Zoo has developed expertise in breeding rare amphibians, some of them on the brink of extinction. Mantella frogs, which exist in the wild only on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, are suffering from the loss of their forest habitat due to logging and agriculture. Their tiny size and bright coloration make them attractive to collectors, leading to a brisk and often illegal pet trade that further decreases their numbers.
The Detroit Zoo is one of just a few American zoos to breed golden mantellas, a bright yellow frog less than an inch long. Several years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked the Zoo to take in 49 of the frogs it confiscated from a smuggler. The Zoo established four breeding groups, and is now distributing golden mantellas to other zoos. Another species, the painted mantella, is difficult to breed in captivity; however, the Detroit Zoo bred them recently for the first time.
No one knows why the Wyoming toad became extinct in its native habitat, the Laramie Basin. The Detroit Zoo and five other zoos, starting with the 80 remaining animals, bred thousands of toads, which were recently reintroduced to the Wyoming wetlands.
“The National Amphibian Conservation Center will be unlike anything anywhere,” said Snider. “No other zoo has a facility dedicated entirely to amphibians. Researchers will come here from all over the world to learn from us. We hope this Center will serve as a model to other zoos.”
Everyone knows tadpoles turn into frogs, but few of us actually see it happen. That will change next year when the Detroit Zoo opens the National Amphibian Conservation Center. Site preparation was recently begun for the Center, across Island Lake from the Holden Museum of Living Reptiles and Amphibians.
Among the Center’s attractions will be the overhead aquarium where viewers will see tadpoles in various stages of their metamorphosis into frogs and an immersion area like the Zoo’s aviary and butterfly/hummingbird garden. There will even be an “underground” exhibit of burrowing caccilians (sah SEAL yuns), worm-like amphibians rarely seen by humans.
The center will be bordered by a pond and wetlands area, where visitors can observe Michigan amphibians in their natural habitat. The facility is the first of its kind worldwide.
“We’ll be able to show a cross-section of the amphibian world, from the smallest to the biggest, the gaudiest to the drabbest, from the Northern and Southern hemispheres,” said Andy Snider, the Detroit Zoo’s Curator of Herpetology, which includes reptiles and amphibians.
In addition to animal and habitat experiences, there will be interactive displays about amphibian life, river and stream exhibits, a classroom and even a walk-through cave.
The Zoo originally planned to create a regional center. After hosting a conference of 16 internationally renowned amphibian specialists, it was encouraged to expand its vision. The Center will not only exhibit amphibians – up to 1,000 of more than 60 species – it will also focus research on the many vital questions that surround the current worldwide decline of frogs, toads, news and salamanders.
One goal of the Center is to teach Zoo visitors about these creatures’ significance as indicators of environmental conditions. Amphibians often serve as the linchpins of entire ecosystems, said Snider. When habitat is polluted or destroyed, amphibian species that live there are usually devastated along with it. When the amphibians go, the species they prey on and those that prey on them are affected as well. The whole ecosystem can be destroyed.
Amphibians function as nature’s early warning system. Like the canary in the mine shaft, which warned miners when carbon monoxide levels became dangerously high, amphibians around the world warn us of pollution damage to our own environment.
They are more vulnerable than other animals because they live part of their live in water and part in air, Snider explained. “Their skin is very permeable, so their bodies absorb pollutants from both water and air.” Deformed frogs have started showing up in lakes and rivers across the United States, sending humans the message that it’s time to do some cleaning up.
The Detroit Zoo has developed expertise in breeding rare amphibians, some of them on the brink of extinction. Mantella frogs, which exist in the wild only on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, are suffering from the loss of their forest habitat due to logging and agriculture. Their tiny size and bright coloration make them attractive to collectors, leading to a brisk and often illegal pet trade that further decreases their numbers.
The Detroit Zoo is one of just a few American zoos to breed golden mantellas, a bright yellow frog less than an inch long. Several years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked the Zoo to take in 49 of the frogs it confiscated from a smuggler. The Zoo established four breeding groups, and is now distributing golden mantellas to other zoos. Another species, the painted mantella, is difficult to breed in captivity; however, the Detroit Zoo bred them recently for the first time.
No one knows why the Wyoming toad became extinct in its native habitat, the Laramie Basin. The Detroit Zoo and five other zoos, starting with the 80 remaining animals, bred thousands of toads, which were recently reintroduced to the Wyoming wetlands.
“The National Amphibian Conservation Center will be unlike anything anywhere,” said Snider. “No other zoo has a facility dedicated entirely to amphibians. Researchers will come here from all over the world to learn from us. We hope this Center will serve as a model to other zoos.”