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• Wyoming toads (Bufo baxteri)
DZI shared an AZA Conservation Award in 1998 for captive breeding and reintroduction of this USDI Endangered, SSP species.
• Puerto Rican crested toads (Peltophryne lemur)
DZI was the 6th zoo to breed this USDI Threatened, SSP species and send tadpoles back to Puerto Rico for release.
• Panamanian golden frogs (Atelopus zeteki)
This IUCN Endangered species is threatened with extinction by a fungal disease. DZI is coordinating a CEF-funded project with the Baltimore Zoo to study these animals in the field, establish a PMP captive-breeding population, and develop an in-country education program.
• Southeast Asian salamandrids
DZI won an AZA Significant Achievement Award in 1998 for the long-term propagation of emperor newts (Tylototriton shanjing), bred here in 1989 for the first time in a U.S. zoo. DZI staff wrote the TMA and are developing the studbook and PMP. In 1999, DZI became the first U.S. zoo to breed Anderson's newts (Echinotriton andersoni), a success repeated in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
• Malagasy anurans
DZI is has produced IUCN Vulnerable golden mantellas (Mantella aurantiaca) by the hundreds. Painted (M. baroni), splendid (M. pulchra), and Bernhard's (M. bernhardi) mantellas have already reproduced in fair numbers at DZI.
• Troglobitic salamanders
DZI is working to establish breeding protocols for captive populations of cave- and aquifer-dwelling salamanders in the genera Eurycea, which are threatened with habitat modification and loss.
• Cryptobranchids
DZI is working with hellbenders (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis) and Japanese giant salamanders (Andrias japonicus) to establish captive-breeding protocols for these declining giant caudates.
• Blue dart-poison frogs (Dendrobates azureus)
Classified CITES II, this relic species has become isolated in perhaps five "forest islands" in the savannas of Surinam with no chance for gene flow between populations. DZI participates in the PMP program managed by the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
• Mountain chickens (Leptodactylus fallax)
A PMP program is in development for this robust anuran, which is extremely rare on the island of Montserrat, where much of its habitat was lost to volcanic eruptions, and on Dominica, where native islanders hunt it for food.
• Mississippi gopher frogs (Rana sevosa)
This federally Endangered ranid is generally regarded as the most endangered anuran in North America. With only 50-100 adults remaining in the wild at a single deteriorating breeding site, it is essential that a captive breeding population be established quickly.
• Caecilians
Generally ignored by most zoos, these animals will be a primary focus of our behavioral observations and breeding efforts.
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