JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens is celebrating a record-breaking year in its mission to save a critically endangered toad.
This year, the zoo flew 24,485 Puerto Rican crested toad tadpoles out to their native wild habitat to grow and repopulate. Conducted through the Puerto Rican Crested Toad Conservancy, the zoo says the number nearly doubled its overall total since its first tadpole release in 2011.
“The Puerto Rican crested toad holds a special place in our conservation mission,” said Cayle Pearson, Assistant Curator of Herpetology at Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens. “To see our efforts reach new heights in 2025 is a reflection of our team’s dedication to protect Puerto Rico’s only native toad as well as our commitment to conservation work worldwide.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
The zoo says the Puerto Rican crested toad’s population declined due to habitat loss, rising sea levels, disease, and invasive species like the Cuban tree frog.
The species was the first amphibian to enlist in the Species Survival Plan program under the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Created in 1984, it remains the association’s longest-running continuous amphibian reintroduction program.
The zoo’s herpetology team oversees the breeding and keeping of the amphibians, mimicking natural environmental conditions.
Once they arrive in Puerto Rico, they are monitored in man-made ponds until they become full-fledged wild toads.
The work doesn’t end there. The SSP’s objective includes continuing research, safeguarding existing habitats, creating new ponds, and establishing a minimum of six self-sustaining populations in the wild.
Over the past 6 years, the Zoo says it has contributed $1.75 million to conservation efforts across 35 programs.
Learn more about each animal the zoo is working to conserve here.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
