Buffalo Zoo sends nearly 600 endangered tadpoles to Puerto Rico for reintroduction to the wild
The Buffalo Zoo is proud to once again play its part in the species survival of the Puerto Rican crested toad by sending tadpoles to Puerto Rico for reintroduction into the wild!
It is the 42nd year running the Buffalo Zoo has supported this integral effort to save the endangered species.
The Zoo oversaw breeding Puerto Rican crested toads that produced nearly 600 tadpoles this year, which were sent to the conservancy in Puerto Rico last week. The tadpoles will be acclimated in man-made ponds and monitored until they metamorphose and disperse. Currently, there are four reintroduction sites on the Caribbean island that are located in historical habitat and separated from the last remaining wild population.
Shipping the tadpoles to Puerto Rico is a delicate process, which involves moving them from their pools to a box that is carefully prepared and packaged to ensure conditions are perfect. They are then sent via FedEx to the Puerto Rican Crested Toad Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that the Buffalo Zoo works with as part of the program.
Thanks to the work of the PRCTC and its partners, over 924,000 tadpoles have been released in Puerto Rico. The toad’s wild population has fluctuated between 300 and 3,000 over the past 35 years, though the species is difficult to monitor due to its fossorial lifestyle. The conservancy is currently in the process of constructing a new research and breeding facility, which will serve as a hub and bolster the production of offspring.
The Puerto Rican crested toad (PRCT) became the first amphibian Species Survival Plan (SSP) program under the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 1984. That same year, the Buffalo Zoo won the AZA Edward H. Bean award for discovering the husbandry needed to care for and breed the species to allow for reintroductions to the wild to even be possible.
The PRCT SSP program evolved to become the Puerto Rican Crested Toad Conservancy in 2021, a separate 501(c)3 organization that partners with 16 AZA institutions to continue reintroduction efforts with the goal of creating a stable wild population.The Puerto Rican Crested Toad Conservancy would like to thank partners the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Caribbean Field Office for their in-situ continuous support.
