Taipei Zoo is introducing golden mantella frogs, yellow-banded poison dart frogs and rough knob-tailed geckos as part of its conservation efforts of endangered amphibious reptiles, the zoo said on Wednesday.
The species are part of a genetic diversification program with Singapore Zoo and arrived in Taiwan on March 16, it said.
The two zoos have close ties and regularly collaborate on conservation efforts, including by exchanging animals to ensure genetic diversity, it said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo via CNA
In exchange for the three reptile species, Taipei Zoo said it would send four species of poison dart frogs to Singapore, as their population in Taipei is stable.
Taipei Zoo said it is the first time that it introduced rough knob-tailed geckos, which are endemic to Australia.
It hopes to achieve a stable population of the gecko, whose most distinct features are warty and spiked skin, and a knobbed tail, it said.
Amphibious reptiles are prone to carrying unique kinds of pests — such as amphibian chytrid fungi, which are highly lethal to the reptiles — so the newly arrived animals would be quarantined for three months, after which they would be displayed to zoo visitors, it said.
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