California red-legged frog now state amphibian

This video is called California’s Amphibians: SAVE THE FROGS! Academy 2013-August 28.

From KPCC in the USA:

California red-legged frog named state amphibian

July 08 2014

The frog made famous in a tale by Mark Twain is now California’s official state amphibian.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation elevating the red-legged frog on June 30. The state library updated its online list of symbols the next day, although the bill doesn’t officially take effect until January.

Members of an afterschool club at Sea View Elementary School in Imperial County proposed AB2364, which was carried by Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez of Coachella. The red-legged frog is only found in California and was large enough to serve as a meal for Gold Rush-era miners.

It is now protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

It joins the grizzly bear, the California redwood and square dancing (the state folk dance) as one of 36 state symbols.

Once abundant in Southern California, the foothill yellow-legged frog inexplicably vanished from the region sometime between the late 1960s and early 1970s. The reasons behind its rapid extirpation have been an ecological mystery: here.

The Fall and Rise of the Amphibian Empire: here.

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