Fri., October 28, 2011 5:45pm (EDT)

Saving Georgia's Few Remaining Gopher Frogs
By Joshua Stewart
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Updated: 2 years ago

ATLANTA  —  
An adult gopher frog, part of a dwindling number of the species in the wild. The frog is now rare, though it used to be common in long-leaf pine habitat in south Georgia. Groups throughout the state are working to save what’s left of the natural population. (Photo by Dante Fenolio/Atlanta Botanical Garden.)
An adult gopher frog, part of a dwindling number of the species in the wild. The frog is now rare, though it used to be common in long-leaf pine habitat in south Georgia. Groups throughout the state are working to save what’s left of the natural population. (Photo by Dante Fenolio/Atlanta Botanical Garden.)
It didn’t used to be too hard to find a gopher frog in south Georgia. But now, the state Department of Natural Resources says there are only six known populations in the state.

Those low numbers have a wide range of groups working with DNR to save the amphibian, including the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Dante Fenolio, one of the biologists directing these efforts at the garden, explains why the frogs are so important.

Learn much more about efforts to protect Georgia’s frogs on Georgia Outdoors, premiering 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30 on GPB TV.


BONUS CONTENT:
Dante Fenolio describes how amphibians might play an important role in developing new drugs for antibiotic-resistant infections and in curing other human diseases.

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