Conservation Efforts

The Phoenix Zoo has two off-exhibit facilities located at, the Lowland Anuran Conservation Center and the New Native Species Recovery Center that are dedicated to raising native frogs for release to supplement wild populations. At the new Native Species Recovery Center you have the ability to see the leopard frog colonies and our staff as they work with them.

Our "head-start planning cycle" begins prior to the start of the field season. At that time, priorities for the specific populations to be reared are made. Once the breeding season begins, volunteers and state and federal biologists monitor donor sites for breeding and spawning activity. Once an egg mass is found, the Zoo is notified and we prepare for its arrival. Whole or partial egg masses are transported to the Zoo where they are set up in a tank to hatch. The tadpoles are then raised by Zoo staff until they become large tadpoles or small metamorphs at which time they are released back into the wild. Between 1995 and 2007 the Zoo has head-started more than 7, 000 tadpoles and frogs!