Into the Mist: Kihansi Spray Toads Return Home in Style
Snapshot Solution
Newborn and adult female Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis)
Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society/AP
Kihansi Spray Toads were thought extinct in the wild after new local infrastructure changed their native environment detrimentally. Disease additionally exacerbated the threats that the population faced. CPSG brought together vital organizations and researchers from around the worlkd in this conservation effort, facilitating the creation of a plan to reintroduce the population in Tanzania. In 2010, the first group was brought from Bronx and Toledo zoos to their homeland. Captive-bred toads were continuously released from a newly-created breeding facility. Researchers monitored the population's and ecosystem's responses to the conservation efforts.
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Impacts
The wild population was recently estimated to be between 50 and 100 individuals, and the insurance population exceeds 12,000, a remarkable reversal for a species that had been extinct in the wild. Although the wild population is still being augmented with toads from captivity, project partners are another significant step closer to reestablishing Kihansi spray toads in their native habitat.
