Amphibian Ark
The Zoological Society of London is working alongside Amphibian Ark (AArk), which was founded to carry out an Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP).This campaign aims to raise global awareness of the amphibian crisis among educators, media, corporations, governments, and the public, and to generate funding for amphibian conservation
Sir David Attenborough explains how "Amphibians were the first backboned creatures to colonise the land. They are fascinating. It’s terrible that they are endangered. To have a whole section of the animal kingdom facing elimination is a major disaster, the consequences of which are difficult to overemphasise. They are the foundation of many eco-systems.”
ZSL London Zoo is one of about 500 zoos around the world taking part in the Amphibian Ark campaign to save frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians. In the past two years at least a dozen species of amphibian have been taken from the wild to safeguard their future. An estimated 120 species of amphibian have become extinct since 1980 and 1,891 species are threatened.
See Sir David Attenborough talking about Amphibian Ark and the global amphibian crisis:
- AArk’s three principal partners are*:
- IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG)
- IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG)
- World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)
AArk will implement the development of short term captive management of threatened amphibians to ensure the long-term survival of species for which adequate protection in the wild is not currently available. Captive management buys valuable time to mitigate threats for species that would otherwise go extinct.
AArk supports the rescue of amphibian species to bring them into “protective custody” in dedicated biosecure facilities at zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, research centres, and other institutions around the world for safekeeping and breeding. These rescued amphibians will be released back into the wild when the original threats have been controlled.
*Find out more about Amphibian Ark and about ZSL's EDGE Amphibian species
