The PGF has not been seen in the wild since 2009 (E. In 2006, as a response to their rapidly declining numbers, captive assurance colonies were established in Panama and several North American zoos and aquaria, with Maryland Zoo in Baltimore (MZIB) holding the largest number of animals. The Panamanian golden frog (PGF Atelopus zeteki) is a critically endangered amphibian whose historical wild populations were decimated by the global amphibian disease Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd).

Conclusionįindings from this study will benefit captive management of PGFs by documenting the increased survival of females when given hormone stimulation and defining appropriate GnRHa doses and expected latency to spawning.

Lastly, results indicate the majority of female PGFs will release eggs within 48 h following the initial pulse of hormones with a small percentage ovipositing after a second pulse. GnRHa doses of 0.05 μg/g body weight produced similar ovulation rates compared to higher doses, and the addition of metoclopramide did not increase oviposition success compared to GnRHa alone. Overall, the use of exogenous hormones significantly decreased mortality when compared to the control data of natural egg-laying females. Female PGFs ( n = 174) were given GnRHa either in various concentrations (Experiment 1) or combined with metoclopramide (Experiment 2), and oviposition success, latency, and mortality were measured as binary response variables. This project aimed to develop induced ovulation and health management protocols by (1) evaluating different doses of gonadotropin releasing hormone analogue (GnRHa), (2) comparing the efficacy of GnRHa and GnRHa + metoclopramide, (3) determining latency periods and the effects of pulsed hormone sequences and (4) establish if mortality is impacted by hormone therapy. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has observed high levels of mortality during the breeding season and suboptimal reproductive success leading to the use of hormone stimulation to aid in reproduction and health management.

Unfortunately, PGFs display a unique reproductive behavior involving a prolonged period of amplexus leading to challenges in their successful captive propagation.

With Panamanian golden frogs ( Atelopus zeteki PGFs) likely extirpated from the wild, ensuring long-term sustainability of captive populations is crucial in order to conserve this critically endangered species.

Golden frog time review