ARC wink launch a massive search for three critically imperiled amphibian species before it's too late. Specifically, we will search for: Hellbenders: Gopher Frogs and Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders – via Herp Digest

From Jeff Holmes-Executive Director

The Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy

I am thrilled to announce that ARC, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service and numerous other partners to be named soon, will launch a massive search for three critically imperiled amphibian species before it's too late. Specifically, we will search for: 

            Hellbenders

            Gopher Frogs

            Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders

How will we do it? Using environmental DNA, or eDNA for short.  

When amphibians, adults or tadpoles, are present in a stream or wetland, their DNA is present in the water. Technology has progressed to the point that those tiny particles can be detected in a lab, confirming presence or absence of the targeted species.  

There will still be a need for long hours and backbreaking work searching for these precious natural treasures using traditional methods, but eDNA will expand on these efforts beyond anything we could have imagined!

And no matter what we find, ARC and Partners have layers of contingency plans, so a rapid conservation response is assured.  

More funding = more samples. Right now, we plan to sample HUNDREDS of streams and wetlands. But with your gift, we might break through into THOUSANDS!  

I'm excited! Are you?

Jeff Holmes

Executive Director

The Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy 

Worldwide appeal finds last remaining Madagascan fish

ZSL London Zoo’s international campaign finds lost Mangarahara cichlids in the wild 

December 2013: Aquarists at ZSL London Zoo are celebrating the success of a worldwide appeal to find a female mate for a critically-endangered fish species – after a small population was found in remote Madagascar.

The Mangarahara cichlid (Ptychochromis insolitus) was believed to be lost in the wild due to intense deforestation and river diversions created for rice farming and agriculture drying up its native habitat of the Mangarahara River in Madagascar, and two of the last known individuals – both male – were residing in ZSL London Zoo’s aquarium.

Read on

Critically Endangered Sumatran Rhino rediscovered in Indonesian Borneo

WWF team find footprints of rhinos on Borneo

March 2013. A WWF team on the island of Borneo to monitor and Orang-utan population have discovered what they believe to be the footprints of a critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, where it was believed that the rhino had been extinct for some time.

The WWF staff were monitoring a population of orang-utans in West Kutai district of East Kalimantan. Having discovered the footprints, they conducted a further survey of the area along with government forestry officials and scientists from a local university. The survey discovered further footprints, and some horn scratches at mud holes, as well as trees used as rubbing posts and bite marks on plants, raising the possibility that there may be more than one lone animal, though numbers remain unclear.

The Sumatran rhino was believed to have been extinct in Indonesian Borneo since the 1990s. and fewer than 200 animals exist anywhere in the world in the wild, still live in the wild in Indonesia and Malaysia.

According to the WWF: Current population & distribution
The Borneo Sumatran rhino is now possibly extinct in Sarawak (Malaysia) and Kalimantan (Indonesia), with perhaps fewer than 25 surviving in Sabah (Malaysia). A 2005 survey in the interior of Sabah found evidence of at least 13 rhinos, and scattered individuals are found in other parts of the state.

Read more about the Sumatran rhino on the WWF website

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/borneo-rhino.html