Atlanta Botanical Garden frogPOD

More than a third of all known amphibians are threatened with extinction, and breeding frogs in conservation collections is an important tool for preserving them. The Garden’s frogPOD is a state of the art laboratory that opened in 2008.

It is a shipping container modified to contain the tanks and systems necessary for raising and researching rare frogs. This type of laboratory has a small foot print and is much less expensive to make than a conventional building. PODs like this one can be created and sent anywhere in the world where frogs are declining in their natural habitats.

Read the latest news about amphibian conservation at the Garden:

frogPOD Blog

Some of the amazing endangered frogs residing in frogPOD include:

Horned Marsupial Frog
Amazonian Leaf Frog
Darwin’s Frog
Lemur Leaf Frog
Carolina Gopher Frog

Horned Marsupial Frog

Gastrotheca cornuta

The Atlanta Botanical Garden has worked with this species since 2005. Frogs are bred onsite in the Garden’s frogPOD. Females keep their eggs in a special pouch on their back through development. Small fully formed frogs emerge from the pouch in approximately 80 days.

Wild Status: Endangered and Declining

Amazonian Leaf Frog

Cruziohyla craspedopus

The Atlanta Botanical Garden has worked with this species since 2007. Scientists know little about these frogs because they inhabit the treetops of the upper Amazon basin.

Wild Status: Declining

Darwin’s Frog

Rhinoderma darwinii

The Atlanta Botanical Garden has researched Darwin’s Frogs in Chile since 2007 and has collaborated with the National Zoo of Chile to establish a captive breeding center in Santiago. A male Darwin’s Frog keeps developing tadpoles inside of its vocal sac. When completely developed, the adult male “coughs up” fully formed froglets.

Wild Status: Declining

Lemur Leaf Frog

Hylomantis lemur

The Atlanta Botanical Garden has worked with this species since 2001. They are bred onsite in the Garden’s frogPOD. Although green during the day, Lemur Leaf Frogs turn a dark shade of red at night.

Wild Status: Critically Endangered and Declining

Carolina Gopher Frog

Lithobates capito

Carolina Gopher Frogs are native to the Longleaf pine sandhill ecosystems of the southeastern United States and earn their common name through their habit of living inside of Gopher Tortoise burrows. The Garden has been raising and releasing Gopher Frogs into protected habitats since 2006.

Wild Status: Declining