• Breeding program is part of a collaborative effort with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to save these endangered toads from extinction
  • Complex husbandry techniques used to promote breeding
  • Mating calls played in the background to help simulate the toads’ breeding environment
  • Thousands of newly hatched tadpoles sent to Puerto Rico for introduction

Flushing, N.Y. –Nov. 19, 2014 – WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) Queens Zoo has successfully bred critically endangered Puerto Rican crested toads (Peltophryne lemur) for reintroduction to their native Puerto Rico.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Puerto Rican crested toad as Critically Endangered. The Queens Zoo started breeding the species this year as part of a collaborative effort with Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) zoos to boost the wild population. Puerto Rican crested toads are brown to yellow-brown in color and covered with warts and blackish spines.

The Queens Zoo’s breeding program takes place in an off-exhibit space and the toads are not on exhibit for public viewing.

A series of complex environmental parameters were manipulated in order to promote breeding among two sets of toads. First, the males and females were separated and placed in enclosures that mimic the environmental conditions and seasonal changes they would experience in the wild. These environmental variations are important to the regular reproductive cycle of the species. In the wild, breeding takes place during the rainy season, so the males were introduced to females in enclosures equipped with misting chambers. Recorded toad breeding calls were played in the background to stimulate courtship and mating.

Male toads cling to the backs of females until she lays eggs in a process called amplexus, with tadpoles hatching from the fertilized eggs 24 hours later. Approximately 2,400 tadpoles were produced from the propagation efforts at the Queens Zoo.

The tadpoles were sent to Puerto Rico where biologists from the Caribbean Ecological Services and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) introduced them to their low-lying rocky habitats.

The greatest threats affecting the Puerto Rican crested toad are human-related and include habitat loss and the introduction of the invasive giant toad. The wild population fluctuates between 1,000 to 3,000 adult toads, all of which are found in Guánica National Forest on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.

CONTACT:
Barbara Russo – 718-265-3428; brusso@wcs.org
Max Pulsinelli – 718-220-5182; mpulsinelli@wcs.org
The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo – Open every day of the year. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors 65 and older, $5 for kids 3-12, free for children under 3. Zoo hours are 10am to 5pm weekdays, and 10am – 5:30pm weekends, April through October, and 10am – 4:30pm daily, November through April. The Queens Zoo is located at 53-51 111th Street in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park in Queens. For further information, call 718-271-1500 or visit www.queenszoo.com .

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. VISION: WCS envisions a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in more than 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: www.wcs.org ; http://www.facebook.com/TheWCS; http://www.youtube.com/user/WCSMedia Follow: @thewcs.

Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a Web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to wcs.org.