‘Brightly colored’ toad — once thought to be extinct — gives birth at Tennessee zoo
-%20Dawn%20Nieman-%202023-4.jpg "The Rio Pescado stubfoot toad had its first successful breeding at the Nashville Zoo, the zoo’s Facebook post says.")
A Tennessee zoo’s amphibian section got more crowded when a critically endangered toad welcomed its 20 new babies.
The Nashville Zoo announced in a Sept. 25 Facebook post that the zoo “successfully bred” its Rio Pescado stubfoot toad, also scientifically known as Atelopus balios, for the first time. The species is critically endangered and was once thought to be extinct, making the offsprings’ birth “crucial to their survival,” the zoo said in the post.
The stubfoot toad’s last known sighting before it was believed to have gone extinct was in 1995 — that is, until it was rediscovered in southwest Ecuador in 2011, NBC News reported. A group found a single Rio Pescado stubfoot toad during a night search.
The species only grows to be between 1 or 2 inches, according to iNaturalist, and is native to Ecuador.
Its “brightly colored” spotted skin makes it an appealing toad to look at, Nashville Zoo herpetology supervisor Nick Hanna told McClatchy News. In his role, he cares for between 400 and 500 amphibians at the Tennessee zoo.
Before the stubfoot toad laid its 20 eggs, the zoo had three females and one male from the species, Hanna said. The zoo got the group about two or three years ago, he said, when they were froglets.
-%20Dawn%20Nieman-%202023-2.jpg "Atelopus (Harlequin Toad)- Dawn Nieman- 2023-2.jpg")
There aren’t any special protocols in place, like keeping the toads in a bio-secure habitat, because they aren’t part of one of the zoo’s conservation programs, Hanna said.
“It’s just a neat species that we work with here at our zoo,” he said.
As the toads grew up, zoo staff had to begin making adjustments in their care to prepare for potential breeding. That involves “putting the animals through environmental stimuli to induce breeding behaviors,” he said, which began about a year ago for the stubfoot toads.
A funny-looking breeding behavior that the rare toad does is semaphoring. It involves males waving their hands around to attract a mate or signal territory as a form of visual communication, Hanna said. They do so because they typically breed by loud streams, making it a way to communicate despite the noise, he said.
-%20Dawn%20Nieman-%202023-3.jpg "Atelopus (Harlequin Toad)- Dawn Nieman- 2023-3.jpg")
Breeding in general for the toad is difficult and somewhat contributes to its critically endangered status. In captivity, it’s hard to breed them because they require very specific “environmental parameters” like higher elevation, Hanna said. Other factors such as disease and habitat loss are also major contributors.
When a female lays her eggs, they eventually grow into tadpoles. Then, the tadpoles morph into froglets. The new offspring are about a few months old, Hanna said.
The recent birth is just a “drop in the bucket” when it comes to trying to save endangered species, Hanna said. But it does feel good to contribute and learn something along the way, he said.
“I always say the first time doesn’t really count because it could be luck,” Hanna said. “You got to do it two or three times before you can say you know what you’re doing. So we have more work to do with them.”
The zoo plans to continue breeding the Rio Pescado stubfoot toads to supply to other zoos who may want them or to potentially create an exhibit dedicated to them, Hanna said.
