Acquiring and sharing skills

It is very important for conservation projects to be updated and share the knowledge that in different parts conservation institutions are using, so in this way we have less chances to do the same mistakes or to develop our work in a better way with better and faster results.

participants and some lecturers of the Amphibian Conservation Husbandry course 2012

Capacity building is one key component of the Bolivian amphibian initiative and in this case we participated with our staff in the Amphibian conservation Husbandry course organized by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust this June in Jersey United Kingdom.

Andrea learning how to inject microchips in amphibians

Andrea one of our staff was participating as a student to acquire the last tools and skills to work in conservation and with captive populations of amphibians and also was a very good experience for her to get in contact with other people in the world that is carrying out the same work she is developing within Bolivian amphibian Initiative. This experience gave Andrea a very good opportunity to see things from other point of view and also to understand where we want to arrive with the conservation of Bolivian amphibians. Now Andrea back to Bolivia after sharing all these experiences with the rest of the staff, she is also applying all these new tools to improve the work we are carrying out.

practice of marking techiques

practice of marking techiques

This very useful and interesting course was also an opportunity for me to share the knowledge about captive breeding and the different aspects that one to be aware, also all the experiences we are obtaining in the work with captive breeding and showing how conservation can be carried out in a developing country with very few resources. This also was a great opportunity to make new contacts and to refresh all the energies that we always get when we go back to Durrell and see all these people from all the world working for the conservation of endangered species.

visiting captive breeding facilities at Durrell

Now our next step is together with our team to organize the fourth amphibian conservation course in Bolivia that is organized by the Bolivian amphibian Initiative for students and young biologists and conservationists of Bolivia and surrounding countries, so we can spread our knowledge and experiences and more people can work for the conservation of endangered species.

Reintroduction of Agile frog tadpoles in Jersey 

New offspring of Telmatobius this year

Captive breeding is not just keeping individuals in captivity, one need to be able to obtain offspring from the species. This is the reason that at the moment we are testing different ways to breed the species that we have in captivity. We test different things and we try to find the best option, so in the future we can use this experience to breed our species and work in the future reintroduction projects we plan to do.

This year we were able to have another offspring of our model species Telmatobius hintoni. The founders were collected when they were tadpoles and this year after some months with several signs of breeding behavior the frogs laid their eggs and now we have several tadpoles that are doing well.

These steps will allow us to improve the work and also to do more research in the natural history of the species, and probably also to start testing with future reintroductions.

There are much more steps that we need to go, but slowly we are finding very interesting results and also this give us a hope for the future of at least some species of bolivian amphibians.

The first number of fieldguides of Bolivian amphibians

plate of amphibians of Guacharos, Cochabamba, Bolivia

Bolivia holds a high diversity of amphibians and almost nothing is known, several places are a gap talking about amphibian surveys or knowledge.

There is no a fieldguide or book of all Bolivian amphibians but there is a lot of interest of biologists, students, tourists and general people to learn and to see these fantastic animals.

Due to that we are working with amphibians we saw the need to share the information and the knowledge we are acquiring with our work. For this reason we are developing fieldguides of amphibians of different sites where we worked or we are working so more people can have access to this kind of material.

There is very basic but we are very interested to prepare a book of the amphibians of Bolivia and we hope to find more interested people to support this initiative.

If you are interested in the plates and want to support with future ones, do not hesitate to contact us.

To download the plates go to our website and then to fieldguides: http://www.bolivianamphibianinitiative.org/Results

Live food for the frogs

Building the greenhouse

One of the main aspects to have frogs in good conditions is the nutrition. Providing them not enough, too much or bad quality of food can bring some problems for the frogs.

The container and the greenhouse

This is the reason that we are improving our live food production where we can control and provide our frogs a good quality and variety of food. Due that temperature in our city is not so warm and because it was too difficult to warm up a room we decided to build a greenhouse where we can hold and raise our own food. 

The greenhouse from inside with earthworms, cockroaches, woodlice, fish and snails

At the moment we are starting with a group of cockroaches (Blaptica dubia) that now are starting to breed much faster with warmer temperatures. Another live food that we are trying to breed is woodlice and pill bugs that are well accepted by our frogs, so we are trying now to breed them.

Breeding cockroaches 

woodlice for our frogs

Earthworms is another group of live food that is very interesting because the nutritional qualities and also that they can survive long time in the water for our aquatic frogs, now we have a good number of earthworms that are breeding and soon will provide a good amount of food.

Earthworms in our greenhouse

Fish and aquatic snails are useful for some of our species and for this reason we are trying to breed some in the aquariums so we can provide the frogs a variety of items that will improve the nutritional status of the frogs.

Fish that are going to be used as food

With all this variety of food and also a better quality we pretend to improve the efficiency and results of our captive breeding program of endangered amphibians.

Telmatobius hintoni with a earthworm

Water quality for the frogs

To keep amphibians in captivity in good conditions we need to be aware of several things, one of these is water quality, especially when we are working with aquatic frogs like we are.

Telmatobius frogs are aquatic frogs that have different dependence of water bodies and some of them are completely aquatic, one case is Titicaca water frog (Telmatobius culeus), that lives just in Titicaca lake in Peru and Bolivia.

Telmatobius culeus one frog that we are trying to breed

Working at the beginning with this frog we had some problems, but after some experiences of water management we were able to fix it. Now that we have a water test equipment we are taking different parameters from different places of Bolivia to know the water quality that different species use and also if there is a variation during the year.

Andrea measuring water quality in one stream

For this component we also are supporting a research that is obtaining information in the wild about different water parameters such as temperature, pH, hardness, alkalinity, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate and phosphates. After obtaining all this information we are trying to replicate these parameters in captivity with different recipes that we are testing.

All this research and information is improving a lot our results in captivity and now we can provide our frogs with a better quality of water that will allow us to breed these species much better.

Andrea measurin water quality in Titicaca lake

The Leap day

As part of the global campaing of the Leap day the Bolivian amphibian Initiative and the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d'Orbigny, organized different activities in the Museum.

Climb like a frog, games in the boulder related with the frogs.

Talks about amphibians and the work conservationists are carrying out

Drawing contests where kids from different ages can participate drawing the frogs of Bolivia.

and several other activities with games, talks and contests where people are learning more about the unique amphibians we have and what they can do to help us to protect them
more information please visit our Facebook galleries: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bolivian-amphibian-Initiative/119214331487496

The leap day and Photography contest

            LEAP DAY IN BOLIVIA!!!!

Bolivian Amphibian Initiative as part of the “Lipping ahead of extinction” event is planning some great activities to celebrate the Leap day!!!. You, your friends and family are invited to leap to the Natural History Museum Alcide d’Orbigny and be part of this fun amphibian events:

§  Photo contest: In this photo contest participants of all Bolivia can show their talent by taking pictures of wild Bolivian amphibians. There are two categories that include:

o   Amphibians in general

o   Endangered amphibian species 
more information: http://www.bolivianamphibianinitiative.org/Concurso%20fotografia

§  Drawing contest: we invite to all children less than 12 years old to show us their talent by drawing the amphibian they like most!!

§  Climbing like frogs!!!! In this activity all visitors to the Leap day frog in the Natural History Museum can participate of some great climbing games. We’ll have an artificial boulder where all participants can climb, leap and learn with amphibian related games.

§  Talks and visits: as a part of our celebration we’ll have experts presenting amphibian talks and tours to see some of the great frogs.

§  Games!!!: We’ll have some great learning activities for children that include fun and educational material that can show kids how great is to know about amphibians and how important is to take care of them!

§  Sharing information: finally we’ll show some posters with information about amphibian crisis and the conservation work carried out in Bolivia.

Bolivian Amphibian Initiative working with local communities

Local communities are very important to work in conservation, to try to involve them from the beginning and to make them part of the decisions is very important aspect. This is the thing that Bolivian amphibian Initiative is trying from the beginning and this is the case of two localities in Titicaca Lake.

In Sicuani in the amphibian course with the involvement of the community

Sicuani a small community located between Copacabana and Isla del Sol in Titicaca, we are working with them since a couple of years obtaining information about the species, habitat and training some members of the community. This community is very interested to work in tourism and we are exploring some possible ways to work in the area with ecotourism and specific tours that normally are not offered in the area.

Nelzon one young of Sicuani working with us

Sawiña is another small town close to Copacabana, very interested to work in ecotourism and they already have some facilities and also a tour very linked with the frog of the lake. We are supporting them with this initiative and we are organizing training workshops, educational material that they can use for their activities so we together can work for the conservation of this critically endangered species.

Rodrigo and the kayra Uta (house of the frog) the touristic offer of Sawina

Rodrigo showing us the kayra uta and the animals we can see in the lake

With this joint effort with local communities we want to ensure the long lasting conservation attitudes of the people. This change of attitudes of local communities will allow us to have better impact in the conservation activities we want to carry out to protect the endangered species of the different areas.

Calendar that will be distributed in the different communities in the lake
"The titicaca water frog is just in the lake, help us to protect it"

Working together for one species

Telmatobius culeus (critically endangered)

The conservation of one species normally requires a lot of effort and a team work, this is the case of Titicaca water frog (Telmatobius culeus) a critically endangered species. The lake is very big and there is very few information about this species even there is some research done.

going in to the lake with the peruvian team (photo:Raul Berenguel)

This is the reason that since last year we are coordinating our conservation work with the Peruvian project coordinated by Denver Zoo, Universidad Nacional del Altiplano Puno, Peru, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Lima, Peru. This time we met again in the Peruvian side to plan our next steps in the conservation of this critically endangered frog working in research, captive breeding and education. It was nice feeling that our work of these years provided data that was useful to suggest the next steps of this initiative and now we can start a joint effort to understand better this frog and to be able to do conservation.

Showing the team the methods we use in Bolivia (photo:Raul Berenguel)

This time we were showing and explaining how the work is carried out in Bolivia and explaining the Peruvian team, the methods we use the advantages and disadvantages of these methods. With this we want to use the same methods and to coordinate the work in both countries that are interested to save one species. 

The Peruvian team and us (Denver Zoo, Universidad Nacional del Altiplano Puno, Universidad Cayetano Heredia and Bolivian Amphibian Initiative) 

Working with a model species

Sometimes to learn and to work with endangered species is risky, this is the reason that sometimes we preffer to work with model species, species that are not so threatened and more common. This is the reason that we took Telmatobius hintoni a frog that is relatively common in the city of Cochabamba, we are working with this species to find good methods to understand better the biology, behavior, reproduction and to learn how we can protect one threatened species in the future with better methods.

monithoring a population of Telmatobius hintoni

We are testing survey methods, estimating population size and biology among others, our student Ramiro is supporting us with this work and until now we found interesting things, some things that can be used with other species and others that don’t work. Also we want to improve our diets in the tadpoles of this species in captivity and finding some ways to work with different individuals and their development in captivity compared with individuals in the wild.

Using natural pattern dessign to identify our individuals

Marking tadpoles for studies

Once we know about different methods we can use it in this aquatic species that lives in streams, so we will be able to use all this knowledge to apply in the other 13 threatened species of Telmatobius that are present in Bolivia. We have been using this way to work with model species  in our captive breeding component and with good results and now we already have adult offspring of this species and in the near future of the other species we are working with.

Working with tadpoles and froglets in the  lab

One of our objectives is to obtain all this information and to make it accessible for the conservationists. This will be our next step, because we need more people with that knowledge and with the tools to work in amphibian conservation.

New members in the team

This last time we had changes in the Project, positive changes, and new people with a lot of enthusiasm and with the desire to work in research and amphibian conservation in Bolivia.

Oliver Quinteros, biologist with experience in taxonomy that will support us in the research component and with the amphibian collection work that the museum holds that will allow us to work with the new records of amphibians for Bolivia and even new species to science. This work will help us to know better our species and to understand them.

Ramiro Estrada, a student of biology that wants to carry out a study with Telmatobius hintoni (Vulnerable) with potential and desire to work with amphibians and support the Bolivian Amphibian Initiative.

Consuelo Morales, an enthusiast and promising student of biology, interested to work in conservation, recently involved in the Bolivian amphibian initiative after the high Andean amphibian conservation course. She wants to develop a study in the high lands of one are of Cochabamba with amphibian populations that are threatened and to see the impacts of some human activities in these species, Consuelo now is supporting the project.

Andrea Fuentes, student of environmental engineer, at this moment she is carrying out a internship with the project supporting us in several components like captive breeding, education and general aspects of the project, with a lot of potential and energy in the activities. Her work will help us to improve some aspects in the project and will train her to manage conservation projects.

Our new members join the team with Patricia and Nelzon, open for us the option to carry out more tasks, improve the work we are carrying out and bring us new energy for the amphibian conservation work in Bolivia, at the same way like Bolivian Amphibian Initiative we want to support to the people interested to work in conservation.

more information about our team http://bolivianamphibianinitiative.org/OurTeam

Improving our work in captive breeding

working with our frogs marking them to have better control

Due to past training experiences we came back with the objective to improve several of our activities within the project. This is the case of the captive breeding work, which we saw that several aspects could be improved.

In this sense, now we are working better with our captive frogs, in some cases treating them to improve their conditions to have better results. Aspects like nutrition, calcium balance, water quality, UV radiation and some environmental changes among others are reflecting better conditions of our frogs, aspect very important in the conservation work we want to develop.

A new model of Titicaca water frog in our exhibition
thanks to the Swedish exhibition project "Con Otros Ojos" 

Also we are improving our biosecurity levels that will allow us to have a better management and control of possible diseases of wild and captive amphibians.

Improving our biosecurity levels in the container

Improvements in our work can have a big impact in the captive amphibians we are holding and this thanks to the people and institutions like Durrell that is supporting us in this process of amphibian conservation. All these experiences we want to share with other countries that are working or want to work in captive breeding projects with Telmatobius; in this way to work faster with the species that need our help.

Working with live food

Team working in the facilities