Conservationists restore endangered frog population in Patagonia: 'Most threatened animals on the planet'

Conservationists restore endangered frog population in Patagonia: 'Most threatened animals on the planet'

Conservationists restore endangered frog population in Patagonia: 'Most threatened animals on the planet' Conservationists in Argentina’s Patagonia region have helped save the country’s most threatened amphibian, the El Rincon stream frog, a species whose entire existence centers on a single warm stream in the Somuncurá Plateau. To restore the frog population, researchers removed invasive trout from the stream, bred hundreds of frogs in captivity and released them in the wild, and worked with ranchers to keep cattle out of the frogs’ habitat. Researcher Federico Kacoliris, who mobilized the conservation movement around the species, recently received a Whitley Award, known as the “Green Oscars,” which will help his foundation expand protections in the area. A first look at Argentina’s Somuncurá Plateau reveals features somewhat predictable for a Patagonian steppe: shrubs, grass, plains, and rocky outcrops. Only the occasional volcanic peak breaks the monotony of the landscape spann…