Oophaga anchicayensis

The Oophaga anchicayensis is a frog.  It lives in Colombia in a place called Chocó.

Home
This frog lives on the ground in rainforests where the trees have had time to grow. Sometimes people see this frog near coca farms in places where the forest used to be. People have seen this frog between 360 and 790 meters above sea level.

Young
The male frogs choose good places for females to lay eggs. Male frogs call to female frogs from branches or logs between 0 and 3 m above the ground. After the eggs hatch, the adult frogs carry the tadpoles to pools of water in bromeliad plants. The female frog lays eggs that will not hatch for the tadpoles to eat.

Danger
Scientists believe this frog is in danger of dying out because it lives in only one small place. It is also in danger because people catch the frogs to sell, even though this is against the law. People cut down the forests where it lives to build farms, get gold out of the ground, and make places for cows to eat grass. People make farms even in places where it is against the law to make a farm.

It is against the law to catch this frog. Because human beings fought a war in the place where the frog lives, frog-catchers could not come to the rainforest to capture frogs to sell. But because the government of Colombia made peace with the other group of fighters, people are catching the frog again.  Smugglers buy the frogs from Colombians for about US$3 each, but the frogs sell in North America for $1000 each. Because the frogs do not usually have eggs or tadpoles when they live with people, people catch new adults from the forest every year.

There is a dam for electricity in the Parque Nacional Farallones de Cali. Scientists think the frog might live in this park. Sometimes the water from the dam hurts the frog, but the guards that protect the dam stop people from catching the frog to sell.

First paper

References

Category:Frogs of South America