Photos: America's Only Lake Titicaca Frogs

Rare frog

One of three critically endangered Lake Titicaca frogs on display at the Denver Zoo, the only place in the northern hemisphere where these amphibians are on view for the public. These frogs are endemic to Lake Titicaca, a high-elevation lake on the border of Peru and Bolivia. They're endangered in large part because they're the main ingredient in "frog juice," a blended concoction that's supposed to improve virility and health. 

 

 

Strange skin

This juvenile frog at the Denver Zoo is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, but Lake Titicaca frogs can grow to the size of dinner plates and weight more than 2 pounds (1 kilogram). They live a fully aquatic lifestyle and breath through their skin. The excess folds allow them to absorb extra oxygen from the cold waters of Lake Titicaca, which vary between 50 degrees and 60 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 17 degrees Celsius).

Lake Titicaca Native

 Twenty Lake Titicaca frogs arrived at the Denver Zoo in November 2015 and three were put on display in the spring of 2016. The frogs are the second-generation descendants of wild-caught Lake Titicaca frogs rescued from markets in Lima and other cities in Peru. Poaching is a major threat to the species, along with competition and predation by introduced fish species to the lake. Pollution run-off and a deadly skin fungus called chytrid also conspire to land these animals on the "critically endangered" list. 

 

Wild Frog

A juvenile Lake Titicaca frog in its native habitat. Lake Titicaca sits at 12,500 feet elevation (3,811 meters). It's cold, has a high pH and a high mineral content — not, on the surface, an ideal environment for frogs, said Tom Weaver, the assistant curator of reptiles and fish at the Denver Zoo. Lake Titicaca frogs have adapted to this extreme environment by evolving saggy skin to let them capture more oxygen from the water. 

Big frogs

Lake Titicaca frogs are the largest totally aquatic frogs in the world. Older, larger frogs tend to live deeper in the lake and can be harder to find than the juveniles who stay closer to the shoreline. The Lake Titicaca frog is critically endangered, meaning that likely less than 80 percent of its historical population remains.   

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