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Houston Zoo Wins Top Honors For Amphibian Conservation and Education
The Houston Zoo has won Top Honors in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums International Conservation Award category for our amphibian conservation efforts in Panama.
The El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center began in 2005 to safeguard endangered amphibians. In recent years, conservation biologists have drawn our attention to a worldwide decline in wild populations of frogs, toads, and salamanders - a phenomenon that has come to be called the Global Amphibian Crisis.
While habitat loss is still considered the most serious threat to the majority of species, especially in the humid tropical forest regions of the world, a fungal disease known as chytrid has been identified as being exceptionally deadly to amphibians.
For more information, or to support our efforts in Panama, go to http://www.houstonzoo.org/amphibians/
Houston Zoo's Education Department also received the 2010 Excellence in Diversity Award for our Target Title I Program. This program provides free educational classes to groups from economically-disadvantaged, Title I schools around the Houston community.
Houston area students and their teachers are provided with additional educational resources to supplement formal classroom learning. Students learn by observing Zoo staff present information about our animals, their natural habitat, diets, enrichment adaptations, conservation and natural behavior. Staff will also provide demonstrations on animal enrichment and behavior.
The Target Title I program is generously sponsored by
