Weaver isn't sure how big the captive frogs will get, but some Lake Titicaca frogs in the wild grow to the size of dinner plates. The frogs had eaten so much that they'd bulked up temporarily. 'We fed everybody, came back and were like, 'Those aren't the biggest ones,'' Weaver said. These were chosen because they were thought to be the biggest of the bunch, Weaver said. Three are now on display in a tank lined with river rocks. The frogs themselves landed in Denver in November 2015, transported in a cooler and kept chilled with ice. In the Denver Zoo gift shop, visitors can buy frog-themed crafts made by Peruvian artisans. And there are efforts to open up alternative livelihoods for those living around the lake who might otherwise turn to poaching, Garcia said. A public health campaign warns Peruvians that frogs caught from the lake can have cholera and other diseases that make them unappealing for consumption. Members of the team visit schools around the lake to teach students about the flora and fauna, Garcia said. They're also working on local education and outreach. That zoo was the first to breed the Lake Titicaca frog in captivity, in 2010, Weaver said.Īt the lake itself, the researchers have three teams of scientists doing population surveys of Lake Titicaca frogs. They saved two out of 4,000 or so - 'When they get them confiscated in the markets, they're usually on their way out anyway,' Weaver said - and also helped the Huachipa Zoo in Lima set up an amphibian habitat. (Image credit: James Garcia, Denver Zoo)Īlong with Elias and other conservationists, Weaver and his team built a laboratory at the university to house confiscated frogs. Lake Titicaca frogs are the largest totally aquatic frogs in the world.

'He started sending me pictures of confiscated frogs that were ending up in the markets of Lima and Cusco and some of the bigger cities,' Weaver said. Through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Amphibian Ark, Weaver got in touch with wildlife veterinarian Roberto Elias, a professor at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima. Tom Weaver, assistant curator of reptiles and fish, had been working on a project to save the Panamanian golden frog, but that species had attracted plenty of outside interest, so he and his colleagues started looking for lesser-known species to focus on. The Denver Zoo's involvement in the crusade to save the Lake Titicaca frog started nine years ago. 'Without them saving it and learning about it and taking pride in it, it's not going to be saved.' Save the frogs 'We're trying to teach people to take pride in this animal, to understand this animal,' Garcia told me.

That's the reaction the Denver Zoo is hoping their rare display of these frogs will engender - both in Colorado and back in Peru. And worst of all, the survival of the Lake Titicaca frog is threatened because it is the main ingredient in Jugo de Rana, or frog juice - a concoction of blended frog, maca root and other ingredients - that's supposed to improve one's sex life. In 2013, it was the runner-up in a ' world's ugliest animal' contest put on by the United Kingdom's Ugly Animal Preservation Society. It's been given the nickname 'scrotum frog' for its folds of skin, which allow it to absorb oxygen from its aquatic environment. This unadorned room - and the public exhibit down the hall, which houses three more frogs - is the only place to see them in the Northern Hemisphere.įor a species that manages to survive in a 50- to 60-degree Fahrenheit (10 to 17 degrees Celsius) lake at 12,500 feet (3,811 meters) elevation, the Lake Titicaca frog hasn't, traditionally, gotten much respect. The strange, baggy-skinned amphibians leaping for red wiggler worms are Lake Titicaca frogs ( Telmatobius coleus), which can grow to more than 2 pounds (1 kilogram) and are found only in the lake along the Peruvian and Bolivian border that gives them their name.