We just received this amazing animation featuring a species we're working to save from extinction! This is the Mossy Red-eyed Frog (Duellmanohyla soralia). The artist is Fiorella Ikeue and she's illustrating the third eyelid of a frog, called the “nictitating membrane.” Frogs, reptiles, birds, sharks and even some mammals have them (like your dogs & cats!) They keep the eyes moist and clean, and in the case of this frog, protect them while underwater and can help with camouflage.                 

Artist: Fiorella Ikeue • Website www. fiorellaikeue.com • Email: fiorella.ikeue@gmail.com • IG & Twitter: @fioikeue

Here's a wonderful animation by Brian Dall Schyth showing the different life stages of the critically endangered Cusuco Spike-thumb Frog (Plectrohyla dasypus). This is one of the species we're working to protect at the HARCC frog rescue center (http://www.frogrescue.com).

These frogs begin life as eggs laid in the cold mountain streams of Cusuco National Park in Honduras. After the eggs hatch, they grow into tadpoles that swim around munching on vegetation. Eventually, they grow tiny arms and legs and emerge from the rivers as little grey-brown frogs with metallic green and black patterns and red-orange eyes. At this stage, the entire body measures only about 2cm long.

After eating many thousands of insects, these baby frogs grow to become mature adult frogs about 7-8 cm long, with large copper eyes and highly variable green and brown patterns to help them blend into the forest and hide from Palm Vipers.

Sadly, many of these baby frogs are getting sick from exposure to chytrid fungus early in life while they are still tadpoles swimming in the river. Our frog rescue project aims to collect these sick baby frogs and bring them to the HARCC frog rescue center, which can be thought of as a frog hospital. Here, we can care for the frogs with chytrid and help more of them survive compared to the ones in the wild. Then, after we raise these animals into healthy adult frogs with stronger immune systems, we release them back into the rainforest where they can continue their lives and make more baby frogs. With your help and support, we'll save this species from extinction!

I would like to thank the artist, Brian Dall Schyth, for donating his time and skills to create this beautiful educational animation for us! If you would also like to contribute artwork and help us raise awareness about amphibian conservation, please send your submission or contact us with questions at info@FrogRescue.com