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(Photo of Gray Treefrog, courtesy of Don, Kentucky)

Teachers, Welcome to
A Thousand Friends of Frogs!!

Hop around our web site and click on the links at the left to find useful resources for you and your students, answers to many questions about frogs and toads, and how to get involved with the project.

New Activity Added
The Case of the Missing Anurans has been added to the compliment of learning activities available to educators. A shorter version of this activity has been accepted for publication in the American Biology Teacher and should appear in the journal later this year. The activity is centered on two characters, Sheerluck Biomes and Dr. Newt Watson, who investigate the many reasons why amphibian populations are declining. Use this to have your students help solve this case. To examine the activity, click here. To see the full list of learning activities available on the web site, click here or on the Learning Activities button on the left of the page.

Origins of A Thousand Friends of Frogs
In August 1995, while on a fieldtrip with their teacher a group of students from the Minnesota New Country School in Le Sueur found malformed frogs near the Minnesota River. Since frogs act as indicators of the health of the environment, the world took notice. Research scientist Judy Helgen from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) began to wonder what else we might find if we looked in our back yards. She thought that thousands of youth could help look after the health of our amphibian friends. The seed for this project had been planted!

When the project began, A Thousand Friends of Frogs passed information from students, teachers and citizens onto research scientists at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency concerning the malformed frogs and toads. To find out about the results of the survey in Minnesota, click here. Reports are also passed to the North American Reporting Center for Amphibian Malformations.

This discovery by the students and their teachers helped focus attention on this environmental phenomenon. Scientists in Minnesota, the U.S. and around the world are trying to solve this issue. Check out the Science Corner for the various theories on this phenomenon.

The research that is now being performed on this problem was acclerated by the discovery of the students. This is an exciting example of how getting involved in your local environment can have positive results for the whole community. Why not get involved with your students? Click here to find out how.