THE BOOMERANG (Laramie, Wyoming) 09 November 13 Wyoming toad: Rarest amphibian in North America is in our own backyard (Amber Travsky)
[COLOR="#006400"]Photo @ URL: The endangered Wyoming toad is distinctive by its size, typically only two inches in length. Photo courtesy of Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In the case of the Wyoming toad, it probably takes a special type of beholder to detect the beauty.
As toads go, this one is small, typically only reaching 2½ inches in length as an adult. It’s dark brown or grayish with dark blotches on its back and spots on its belly.
One of the beholders is University of Wyoming Master’s graduate student Julie Polasik, who spent the summer studying these small toads.
“They’re adorable,” she said, “Especially the young toads.”
While admitting they’re quite cute, she also finds them fascinating from a more scientific perspective.
“They only live here in the Laramie Basin,” Polasik said. “They aren’t found in the wild on any other place in the world.”
They also are unique in that they are more dependent on water compared to most toads. While frogs are tied closely to ponds and streams, toads in general don’t need to live near water to survive.
Tyler Abbott, Deputy Field Supervisor for the Wyoming Ecological Services Field Office for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shares that fondness for these toads that have been listed as endangered since 1984. He was on the scene in late summer 2012 to witness nearly 200 young toads skitter through the grass and into the water after being raised in a temporary enclosure near the shore of the lake.
“To see all those toads was a real milestone,” Abbott said. “It was wonderful to see.”
Even better news came the following spring when at least 30 of the toads were known to have survived through the winter. It was a highlight in what has been a rather rough road for this endangered species.
The Wyoming toad was once plentiful, although it has always only inhabited the Laramie Basin. It was first reported in 1946 and was considered one of the most plentiful species in the Laramie Basin in the 1950s.
Rapid toad declines occurred in the 1970s, likely because of a number of factors, including the use of pesticides for mosquito control, water diversion and weather. The primary factor that limits the recovery of the toad now is a fungus, called the chytrid fungus, which has been implicated in declines and extinctions of amphibian species worldwide.
When the toad was listed as endangered, the only wild population was at Mortenson Lake, southwest of Laramie. To protect this last known breeding population of the Wyoming toad, the property was purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1992 and is now the Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
After the listing, things didn’t go so well for the toad.
Mark Sattelberg, field supervisor for Wyoming Ecological Services Field Office for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the only toads currently living in the wild got their start in one of several propagation sites in Wyoming and at several zoos.
“Raising tadpoles and young toads is going well at these facilities, but we still need to figure out how to get them to survive and then reproduce in the wild,” Sattelberg said. “Their survival is still a struggle — and a puzzle.”
Polasik’s research will hopefully provide insights into what toads like. This past summer, Polasik raised toads in special enclosures at Mortenson Lake where she could vary the depth of water and vegetative cover.
“It could be that they require more sunlight and less vegetation,” Polasik said. “We just don’t know yet and hope to figure that out.”
Gaining more knowledge on suitable habitat for the Wyoming toad may, eventually, help save the species from the brink of extinction. An update of the recovery plan for the species will be available for public comment soon.
“This update, which is the first since the 1990s, will take into account advances in our understanding of what impacts the species,” Abbott said. “At least we’re finally gaining some ground and the future is looking better for the Wyoming toad.”
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