08/17/2026
For decades, the green-eyed frog was thought to be extinct. Now, we have a second chance to save them. 🐸
Over the past year, our Conservation team partnered with the Universidad de Costa Rica, Parque Nacional del Agua Juan Castro Blanco, and Agathos.cr to test new conservation methods for this endangered frog in the mountainous cloud forests of Costa Rica.
Green-eyed frogs were thought to have disappeared in the 1990s after populations were devastated by chytrid fungus, a wildlife disease that has contributed to the extinction of more than 100 amphibian species worldwide.
But a few populations were rediscovered, and our team is working to give them a fighting chance.
With support from the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (Species Conservation Fund), our team collects green-eyed frog eggs from the wild and raises them through their vulnerable tadpole stage in specially modified cattle watering tanks. Once they reach metamorphosis, the young frogs are released back into the wild.
Why does this matter? In the wild, only about 1% of tadpoles may survive to metamorphosis. Through headstarting, survival rates can reach 80% or more.
So far, we’ve released more than 250 young frogs to supplement local populations, and we’re just getting started!
