Special Projects
Thanks to our donors, in 2021 we were able to donate $1,000 to help purchase and protect land in Mexico. The 20 acre patch of mountain cloud forest (the most threatened terrestrial ecosystem in Mexico) was designated as the Santuario de Anfibios del Bosque de Niebla (Cloud Forest Amphibian Sanctuary). This sanctuary protects the critically endangered Cuetzalan salamander, Aquiloeurycea quetzalenensis, as well as several other threatened salamander species.
Mexico is the second richest country for plethodontid salamander species, with 132 described species, 81% of which are endemic to the country and 72% of the species (95 species) are threatened with extinction, a proportion more than double that of globally threatened amphibians. Within family Plethodontidae, some genera in Mexico face critical conservation problems as indicated by their high proportions of threatened species: Thorius (96%), Chiropterotriton (83%), and Pseudoeurycea (78%). It is estimated that 111 Mexican plethodontids are negatively affected by habitat transformation, which is caused by human activities such as agriculture, cattle breeding, logging, and urban development, that modify natural terrestrial ecosystems of the country. Current protected areas in Mexico do not coincide with the location of hotspots of amphibian richness and endemism in central western Mexico.
To learn more, visit Conservación de Anfibios A.C. at https://conservacion-anfibios.org/.