Dutch zoo helps rare spadefoot toads

This video is called Pelobates fuscus juvenile digging.

Translated from ANP news agency in the Netherlands:

Artis releases 15,000 common spadefoot toads into the wild

09-07-2013 10:59 | modified 09-07-2013 11:12

This week, as many as 15,000 common spadefoot toads will return to their natural environment. As tadpoles they were reared in Artis, which is now freeing them into the wild. The spadefoot toad is seriously threatened by extinction, the Amsterdam zoo said this Tuesday.

Artis is working with the Ravon foundation (Reptiles Amphibians and Fish Research Netherlands), which two years ago began saving the spadefoot toad. The cause of the threat is the long isolation of populations by the fragmentation of the habitat. Although this has improved in recent years, the animals cannot on their own get out of their endangered status.

Last year, Artis and Ravon also released thousands of spadefoot toads in nature, including in North Brabant, Gelderland, Overijssel and Drenthe. The aim is to bring about strong populations of toads within 20 years which will be able to reproduce and survive on their own.

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