Near-extinct frog coming back in Southern California

[tenderloin]

We lost several trout streams to these guys....

Near-extinct frog coming back in Southern California
8:53 AM | July 27, 2009

Once, the sweet croaking sound of the mountain yellow-legged frog could be heard in various spots of Southern California. Then modernity all but wiped it out.

Now, the frog seems to be making a comeback, with help from mankind.

As The Times' Louis Sahagun reported recently, a frog was discovered in the Tahquitz Creek area of the San Jacinto Mountains. Another discovery was made about two miles away, suggesting a possible colony in the making. (Other extant colonies are more bunched up.)

Now, the San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research reports the first successful breeding of the frog in captivity. The long-range plan is to release captive-breed frogs into the wild.

"It's a big boost," said Jeff Lemm, research coordinator at the institute. "We need all the animals we can get."

The institute has several dozen eggs that it hopes to mature. The Los Angeles Zoo, Fresno Chaffee Zoo and the Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park in Palm Desert are being brought into the save-the-frog project.

The state Department of Fish and Game also is working to restore habitat friendly to the mountain yellow-legged frog.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/07/once-the-sweet-croaking-sound-of-the-yellow-legged-mountain-frog-could-be-heard-in-various-spots-of-southern-california-then.html

[Skyler]

That is great news. However, I'm afraid that the people responsible for closing stocking/fishing on those waters are gonna take credit for the population increase and use it as ammo to close more waters. I doubt the creeks will re-open, even if the frog makes a complete comeback. Maybe it's just paranoia, but I've noticed a major trend of our fishing and hunting rights being taken, and very seldom given back (or any new rights created for that matter). But that is still very good to hear. Hopefully we'll be tying MYLF (sounds like 'MILF" lol) patterns for big browns soon, he he he. Thanks for the info.

[BIGRED KILLA]

They just need to start stalking frogs with trout.




Bigred

[Fish Dog]

I sometimes wonder way we get so concerned over something like this. Here's a damn frog that, apparently, is so specialized that it can't survive except in these few selected areas. Over history 99.9% of species have gone extinct...

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/09/999-of-all-species-have-gone-extinct.html

I can't believe we (meaning "we" collectively - obviously I don't agree as you can tell by reading this) have to go ga-ga over some stupid frog or a damn condor. There are about 300 condors left, most in captivity, and the stupid things are dying right and left by all sorts of stupid mishaps. I've heard of condors cloaking on a quarter or getting tangles in a piece of discarded rope. There's propaganda (with out any real scientific proof) that condors are dying ingesting lead from animals hunters kill. Due to this there are many areas in California that prohibit the use of lead ammo. If this were true then why aren't any turkey vultures, who are just a smaller version of a condor, dying in the same manner? There's millions of turkey vultures occupying the same niche as condors and they aren't dying right and left. When it's time for something to go extinct we should let it go.

[mth1997]

I sometimes wonder way we get so concerned over something like this. Here's a damn frog that, apparently, is so specialized that it can't survive except in these few selected areas. Over history 99.9% of species have gone extinct...

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/09/999-of-all-species-have-gone-extinct.html

I can't believe we (meaning "we" collectively - obviously I don't agree as you can tell by reading this) have to go ga-ga over some stupid frog or a damn condor. There are about 300 condors left, most in captivity, and the stupid things are dying right and left by all sorts of stupid mishaps. I've heard of condors cloaking on a quarter or getting tangles in a piece of discarded rope. There's propaganda (with out any real scientific proof) that condors are dying ingesting lead from animals hunters kill. Due to this there are many areas in California that prohibit the use of lead ammo. If this were true then why aren't any turkey vultures, who are just a smaller version of a condor, dying in the same manner? There's millions of turkey vultures occupying the same niche as condors and they aren't dying right and left. When it's time for something to go extinct we should let it go.


Wow dude, really? So if you were on the brink of death/extinction we should just let you go cuz its your time, even if something we did caused your untimely demise? Don't be mistaken, the actions of humans are directly responsible for the decline or extinction of many species that otherwise would be around today, including those you've mentioned.

I'm not sure how this got on to the California condor, but getting back to the mountain yellow legged frog... its good to see that man is laboring to repair man's faults.

[bassassassin]

Wow dude, really? So if you were on the brink of death/extinction we should just let you go cuz its your time, even if something we did caused your untimely demise? Don't be mistaken, the actions of humans are directly responsible for the decline or extinction of many species that otherwise would be around today, including those you've mentioned.

I'm not sure how this got on to the California condor, but getting back to the mountain yellow legged frog... its good to see that man is laboring to repair man's faults.

dude honestly who gives a **** about some stupid frog

[Cangler]

dude honestly who gives a **** about some stupid frog


Ditto ... and the sooner people stop worrying about stupid animals who
cant adapt , the better off we all shall be.

[Troutman65]

Ditto ... and the sooner people stop worrying about stupid animals who
cant adapt , the better off we all shall be.



I am thinking FROG LEGS :!!!::ROFL:

[mth1997]

hahahahahaha, WOW! Nevermind, I broke my own rule: don't care about anything people post on the internet.

[tacklejunkie]

Hahaha.
Don't let 'em get you ya bro.
This isn't the place to gain respect for existence of animals.

[NICKYMOUSE8]

Cool they made a comeback!!yay now can we resume stocking trout in area's like creeks and rivers where trout are not native :ROFL:

[Fish Dog]

Cool they made a comeback!!yay now can we resume stocking trout in area's like creeks and rivers where trout are not native :ROFL:

Good example there with the trout...if you want to save a species make it something good to eat...how many chickens do you think there are in the world?


The population in 2003 was 24 billion (4 chickens for every human being), according to the Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Yay_unto_the_Chicken )

[fishfinder]

maybe if we could train the condors to eat the frogs, we can start stocking trout again. and save the condors. :ROFL:

[WARRIORMIKE]

man I could go for some frog legs about now:Twisted:

[a biley]

The frogs were there first, then we stocked trout. Hey lets put alligator gar in every lake, and pike and so on! That way we get to fish these!!! I bet the stupid largemouth can't adapt... those green fish deserve to die. They can't even tell a fake worm from a real one. No wonder people poach them stupid fish.

[Sparky70]

I like Frog-Legs as big as a Chicken drum-bone! :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:

[Team Santana]

EVOLUTION!!!!
haha
but seriously theres gotta be a median I cant stand PETA because they're soo extreme but then some poachers are also extreme so i sit like not in the middle but slightly slanted to poacher side haha cuz i like to eat fish and other game....
IMO

[mth1997]

The frogs were there first, then we stocked trout. Hey lets put alligator gar in every lake, and pike and so on! That way we get to fish these!!! I bet the stupid largemouth can't adapt... those green fish deserve to die. They can't even tell a fake worm from a real one. No wonder people poach them stupid fish.

Thank you man. I'm glad to see we're not all retarded.

[BrownTrout]

if there is something we can do to save a species that we directly effected then we should. there are still plenty of places to fish trout from a truck. there isnt a single species that deserves to be allowed to dissapear, everything plays its own little role in the ecosystem. it sounds stupid when you hear "save the frogs", but it isnt. it is an entire species.

save the chickens? cows? pigs? hell no. lets eat em. we should all as outdoorsmen be all about preservation and conservation. JMO. :Big Grin:

[santaigo]

dude honestly who gives a **** about some stupid frog

thats wat im saying!!!!!!!! lets just use them as live bait and shjt!!:Confused:

[smokehound]

So ridiculous. The endangered species act is run by lawyers. The frogs arent going extinct because of global warming. There is a virus attacking frogs and toads worldwide.


THE RESEARCHERS ARE SPREADING THE DISEASE. They touch an infected frog, and spread it around! If these guys werent fondling frog balls, there would be far less die-offs!

So one might say "But they wear gloves" Well thats a good arguement, except they are wading from pond and creek to other spots, often in a day. Just like boats transporting zebra mussels, human researchers are spreading this disease, and speeding up the die-off.


Remember the pupfish "decline"? Oddly, it happened when scientists built a scaffold, and spent months dip-netting them. Lets use commons sense here. Would you get your aquarium net and repeatedly net your fish to examine it? Hell no!

[DarkShadow]

Ditto ... and the sooner people stop worrying about stupid animals who cant adapt , the better off we all shall be.

I can't wait for that to be true for human beings.

That's what is makes us humans, I guess. If we were like the animal kingdom, we'd take out or weakest and dumbest in order for the majority to survive. It seems on this earth, we tend to cater our weakest and dumbest.

[TShaffer]

The frogs were there first, then we stocked trout. Hey lets put alligator gar in every lake, and pike and so on! That way we get to fish these!!! I bet the stupid largemouth can't adapt... those green fish deserve to die. They can't even tell a fake worm from a real one. No wonder people poach them stupid fish.

This seems similar to the snakehead scare...

[Bird dog]

I think Skyler had it right...

[Mr. Bunky]

Wow, glad to see that some folks actually "get it" on this board, there was still enough of the other types (the "me first" and f$%* anything in my way types) that I felt compelled to say something..... The MYLF were indeed here first, waaaaay before us and our stocking of a native mid-elevation Sierran species (Rainbow trout) in waters where they had never been, also of species that were not even from this continent (they don't call 'em German browns for nothing!). I know that the "average" joe isn't a biologist, and could give a damn about most animals that aren't directly useful to them; but I've come to realize that most folks that are willing to have an entire species go extinct just so they are not inconvenienced really aren't swimming in the deep end anyway. Fondling frog balls (they're on the inside anyway in frogs) certainly isn't the cause of the Chytrid fungus, but that fungus is just one factor influencing the decline of frogs worldwide (other causes being climate change, pollution, habitat loss/conversion, and let's not forget the introduction of the nonnative [at least in this State] bullfrog that doesn't succumb to Chytrid but can act as a vector for it!). Nothing more dangerous than a fool with a little info......I'm wondering if some of these folks would be happy in a world where "wildlife" consisted only of those species that are able to live with us: cockroaches, rats, Rock Pigeon, European Starling, etc.?

[smokehound]

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is indeed the primary cause of the yellow-legged frog's decline.

The secondary cause is they just dont have good diversity with their genes. Most of these populations are living in tiny little pools, not big lakes, they are all indbreeding.

The trout have no part in this. 99 percent of this frog's habitat has no fish to begin with.

This fungus is killing amphibians worldwide, and is only present where humans inhabit the area. They claim there are pesticides harming the frogs, but i know where all these frogs live, and that is NOT farmland. And since they live in such high elevations, the runoff theory is bullcrap. It is completely the fault of the researchers. I know it sucks to have a species die out, but these dumbasses are putting the wipeout in fast forward, and we have proof of that.

[mth1997]

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is indeed the primary cause of the yellow-legged frog's decline.

The secondary cause is they just dont have good diversity with their genes. Most of these populations are living in tiny little pools, not big lakes, they are all indbreeding.

The trout have no part in this. 99 percent of this frog's habitat has no fish to begin with.

This fungus is killing amphibians worldwide, and is only present where humans inhabit the area. They claim there are pesticides harming the frogs, but i know where all these frogs live, and that is NOT farmland. And since they live in such high elevations, the runoff theory is bullcrap. It is completely the fault of the researchers. I know it sucks to have a species die out, but these dumbasses are putting the wipeout in fast forward, and we have proof of that.

The fungus is most certainly a contributing factor to the decline of the MYLF, but to ignore the fact that MYLF populations have declined in direct negative correlation with the introduction of non-native trout species is purely foolish.

I challenge anyone to post up sources more credible than wikipedia that say that trout introductions have NOT contributed to the decline of the MYLF. Governmental and scientific sources are not infallible, but they provide the most compelling and accurate evidence on the web.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/planning/projects/mylf.pdf

http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/dpw/floodcontrol/especies/Yellow_Legged_Frog.asp

http://vesr.ucnrs.org/pages/knapp/pdfs/Knapp_ConsBiol_00.pdf

[Cangler]

The fungus is most certainly a contributing factor to the decline of the MYLF, but to ignore the fact that MYLF populations have declined in direct negative correlation with the introduction of non-native trout species is purely foolish.

I challenge anyone to post up sources more credible than wikipedia that say that trout introductions have NOT contributed to the decline of the MYLF. Governmental and scientific sources are not infallible, but they provide the most compelling and accurate evidence on the web.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/planning/projects/mylf.pdf

http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/dpw/floodcontrol/especies/Yellow_Legged_Frog.asp

http://vesr.ucnrs.org/pages/knapp/pdfs/Knapp_ConsBiol_00.pdf


Oh man ..who cares , a thousand species go extinct every day ,
billions and billions over time , it's just the way it works.

[Mr. Bunky]

Exactly what I meant about the "deep end". Who cares if "thousands of species go extinct everday".....I DO! You're trying to compare natural selection over a period of thousands or millions of years to something going extinct as a result of our stupidity in a matter of decades! As a professional biologist who has done numerous surveys for various declining amphibians (including MYLF), I don't need to quote Wikipedia or some other source. I know for a fact that many of the high elevation lakes in the Sierras where they have stocked nonnative trout (including Brook Trout - native to the eastern U.S.), are now devoid of ranid frogs such as the Sierran MYLF (the soCal and NorCal populations have been split into two separate species). Not all pollution is in the form of runoff from farms, you ever seen smog?!! Lots of compounds, including chemicals from pesticides end up in the atmosphere, carried, and deposited with rain/wind far away from their point of origin...but no matter, I'm done with the rant, I shouldn't have wasted my time with folks who've already made their "minds" up, and wouldn't listen even if the evidence is overwhelming..... I guess I'm one of those wackos that feels we've got a responsibility to not f%#$ this place up for everyone......animals included.