Last week I was spending time with Mark Mandica and his team at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Mark leads the Gardens amphibian conservation programme, which houses many endangered species of Panamanian Amphibians within their Frog Pod, a bio secure unit used to house and breed amphibians. They lead on conservation breeding of the Panamanian Lemur Leaf Frog, as apposed to our Costa Rican population here at the Museum.
The Eyelash Marsupial Frog, Gastrotheca cornuta, at Atlanta Botanical Gardens (c) Adam Bland
I spent much of my time working alongside Mark’s extremely focused team, which includes Dr Brad Wilson, who as well as working with the amphibians at the gardens is also the veterinary consultant for the Amphibian Ark. One of the main purposes of this visit was to exchange ideas and learn new skills that I can now bring back to our work at The Vivarium in Manchester.
Opportunities such as this are essential for developing successful and mutual collaboration between our institutions, which are ultimately working towards the same goal: Amphibian conservation.
In the field with Mark Mandica
I would like to thank Leslie Phillips and Brad Wilson for their time during the past week, and a special thanks to Mark Mandica for organising such a great and busy week for me; from helping out in the frog pod to searching underneath logs for native salamanders, it really was an amazing visit!
Atlanta’s Frog Blog Amphibian Ark
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It was wonderful to have you here, Adam! I look forward to future visits and collaborations!