Frogs & Friends

40% of all amphibians are endangered. Habitat destruction is the number one threat. Additional factors include climate change, introduced diseases and environmental pollution.

Frog exhibition in the Rainforest House

An interactive adventure zone in the Rainforest House draws attention to the initiative “Frogs & Friends”. A small movie theater provides an opportunity to learn the calls of native frog species and to become a frog researcher yourself: based on the quacking, you can try to guess the number of frogs inhabiting a pond. Fascinating videos introduce a number of frog projects. Visitors can make a model foot-flagging frog wave its leg and then see what the original looks like in the adjoining terrarium.

Joining forces against the crisis

Frogs & Friends is an advocate for fighting the global amphibian crisis. Scientists and media experts are making an effort to gain public support for amphibian conservation by telling fascinating stories. This involves a cooperation between the association and an international network of zoos, independent experts and research institutions. The goal is to create the awareness necessary to promote the urgently needed research and protection measures.

Active work at the zoos. In Schönbrunn Zoo, Zoo Zürich and the Cologne Zoo, visitors can find out about the projects at the respective facilities. The idea is to present the wide range of global activities designed to preserve biodiversity and to motivate visitors to take action themselves.

The foot-flagging frogs from Borneo are the focus at Schönbrunn. They are being studied in detail and were captive-bred here for the first time anywhere. The Cologne Zoo has been involved in Vietnam for many years and has helped set up several breeding and research stations there. The experts from Cologne fly to Vietnam an average of twice a year in order to spend a few weeks working side by side with their Vietnamese colleagues. Zoo Zürich has erected an amphibian conservation station in cooperation with the Zoo Calí in Columbia. It specializes in the captive breeding of species that are under particular threat of becoming extinct.

All those interested in the native countries of the amphibians, in their capabilities and their current status can get the most recent updates in a modern interactive Webdoku.

Björn Encke, project leader of Frogs & Friends: “The important thing for us is to inform the public about the roles that zoos play in global species protection, whether this be in the realm of research, captive breeding or on-site nature conservation work in the many affected regions of the world.”