Save the Frogs' History In Brazil
An Environmental Article from All-Creatures.org

From

Dr. Kerry Kriger, Save the Frogs
March 2017

There aren't many people on the planet with the ability to go virtually anywhere in the world and create significant, positive action for endangered amphibians and their habitats. I can - with your financial support.

frog logo
Logo designed by Raoni Rebouças and inspired by Phrynomedusa appendiculata, an extinct species that lived in the Atlantic Rainforest; most of the Phrynomedusa genus is gone unfortunately.

This is my 4th trip to Brazil. Here is a brief summary of my experiences here.

toad
I found this toad in the Amazon north of Manaus in 2008.

2000:
I crossed the border from Uruguay into southern Brazil and headed all the way up the coast to the mouth of the Amazon at Belem. I sat on more 18 and 24 hour bus rides than you can imagine. I hiked and camped along the way at Ilha Grande, Chapada Diamantina, Jericoacoara. I went up the Amazon to Santarem and Alter do Chao, then south on the Rio Tapajos, a tributary of the Amazon so wide that I could not see the far shore. I spoke no Portuguese when I arrived in Brazil, but 10 days later I had converted my Spanish knowledge to Portuguese and was having conversations with locals. I used the Barron's Portuguese book to learn the fundamentals of Portuguese.

2001:
I hiked three days from the base of Roraima in Venezuela to get to the summit of Mt. Roraima and eventually to the Punto Triple (Triple Point), where Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil meet. Roraima is the highest of the tepuis (table top mountains), and one of the oldest places on the planet (the rock is slow to erode). I found endemic frogs in puddles on the summit. The frogs live nowhere else on the planet, confined to their island in the sky. I spent about 30 minutes in Brazil and returned to Venezuela.

2008:
I gave my first ever SAVE THE FROGS! presentation. Six months earlier I had founded SAVE THE FROGS! and I thought an appropriate place to announce SAVE THE FROGS! and my plans for it would be at the 6th World Congress of Herpetology in Manaus. After my presentation, I helped track jaguars in the Adolfo Ducke Reserve and then headed north on a bus and crossed into Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

2017:
With your financial assistance (or without it...just with a lot more difficulty), I will spread the SAVE THE FROGS! message throughout Brazil, and send you lots of amazing amphibian photos and success stories!

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