Quote:
Originally Posted by socaled
I know for sure all the red list frogs obviously even zoos can't breed them... One I'm sure you know is the Golden harlequin frog.... They say it takes years i mean years for this frog to mature and then it's even harder to breed..
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Don't take this the wrong way but...I hope you don't doubt anyone that you do not know can or can not breed animals or even zoos. The reason why I say this is that this particular frog has only been bred a few times in captivity we are talking repetitive professional breeding not accidental. There is no sufficient data that can be found that on the internet about them, other than that their cousin (
Big-eyed Tree Frog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) is similar and that they suspect to be the same. I have read that this frog is heavily imported and it is a potentially threatened species. It is the very reason why I took this project on. I a an ASN member as well as writer/researcher. If I can help where I can. I will. I am working on a scientific paper on the breeding behaviors and breeding practices of this frog...right now and I can tell you this...I have already had one clutch of eggs successfully. I am divulging to much information already but the fact is that I need to replicate this and keep watching to compile data. What I did wrong was that I wanted to leave the eggs alone and not deal with them right away and got no pics of them and then they all disappeared. Not sure if insects got to them or they were just that bad. This information will be used for zoos to help them understand a potentially threatened species of amphibian. Right now I am thinking of other species of amphibians that could be a next project while I wait till day turns into night. They are nocturnal so I have lots of time to kill in between when I am not busy doing something.
Now in no way do I think that breeding "difficult" or "impossible" frogs are easy and no I am not nonchalant about it. I am a serious independent unlicensed (to be eventually) researcher. I just don't deal with dart frogs. I keep most of my projects to myself, like the projects I am involved with in reptiles. It isn't how long or difficult the animal is, it's about getting all the data you can and applying it to the animal. Learn what the animal does, lives and breathes and it is easier to get results (sometimes you fail but look at what you gain.). You want to talk about a difficult animal to breed. Try a Urmayx Mali (sp?) it takes 15 years before they are mature to breed and they live 75 years. They are just like a human. They are VERY hard to breed and they are bred in captivity more than you think. In frogs is the same. You have to think about that all animals are pretty much similar, some have this and some have that. Learning the environment of the animal and how they react to it and comparing notes to others, etc. is the start and you take it from there.
You have to remember zoos get funding where they can and do projects where the money is. Zoos do great things for the world but they also are a business as well. (This is all in my opinion.) That is why there are several zoos all over the country and world that specialize in different areas and do different researchers so it is difficult for them to have the time and energy to breed animals that are hard or difficult. That's where we come in to help and do what we can do.
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"I know for sure
all the red list frogs obviously even zoos
can't breed them..."
-This is a very bold and arrogant statement that is merely incorrect. If it was meant to read as something else then, ok, but if you truly believe that all red list species zoos can't breed then you are incorrect. There are many red list frogs that zoos do breed that are very hard regardless of the age of the frog to breed and so on..."Panama Golden Frog. No longer in the wild. Being bred at the Toronto and Vancouver zoos." (
http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6u...eRequested=all ) (Panama Golden Frog also known as Golden harlequin frog.) There are many others that are "difficult" or "impossible" to breed which zoos have taken on that are on the red list. They just can't possibly take on all species due to funding and I can keep posting more and more projects on this subject as well.