Critically Endangered Golden Frog Moving Into Buttonwood Zoo Lobby
With all the animals there are to see at New Bedford's Buttonwood Park Zoo, you may simply breeze through the lobby when you enter. Now there's a colorful new reason to stop and look around for a while.
Buttonwood Zoo has just welcomed five critically endangered Panamanian golden frogs to one of the terrarium habitats in the admissions lobby of the zoo. These bright yellow females arrived at the Nashville Zoo last winter, but will now call the SouthCoast home.
Plus you don't even need zoo admission to see them.
These five Panamanian golden frogs will live inside the admissions building terrarium along with the four different species of poison dart frogs who just became their neighbors.
Stopping to watch them is super cool too because Panamanian golden frogs do something only a few frog species do: communicate with sign language.
While it's not the sign language people use, frogs 'talk' to each other using what is called ‘semaphore.’ Basically the frogs 'wave' their hands or raise and move their feet to defend their territory, try to attract a mate, or even greet one another.
You can hopefully catch Buttonwood's latest additions chatting it up next time you head into the zoo.
Their addition at Buttonwood adds to the zoo's growing list of conservation efforts. The Panamanian golden frog hasn't been seen in the wild since 2009 and the population has declined by 80% in the last 10 years.
Having such critically endangered species at Buttonwood Park Zoo is pretty special and you can visit these beautiful yellow ladies during regular zoo hours.