Oregon Spotted Frog

Don't be fooled by its name, the Oregon Spotted Frog, or Rana pretiosa, are seen not only in Oregon but also in parts of Western Washington. This little guy is unfortunately extinct in most of Washington. As for the entire species as a whole, it's considered "Vulnerable." 

The Oregon Spotted Frog lives in lakes and wet areas that have floating vegetation, which is where you'd expect any frog to live. They also prefer a thin layer of warm water, which is seen in most of these habitats with floating vegetation.These frogs will mate in late winter, with a breeding period only lasting about 4 weeks.  The eggs will hatch a few months later, living as tadpoles for about 30 days, and taking about 95 days to metamorphisize. This species lives only for about 2-5 years.

So, what caused this species to go extinct in some areas, and become vulnerable in most areas of Western Washington?

Here's where the population of the Oregon Spotted Frog is. The three main causes of the species' vulnerability are: agricultural use of water, Dam construction, and introduction of the bullfrog in that area. These all factor in to the Frog's breeding, mostly having to do with the lack of acceptable breeding. This species require a warm area of water in order to reproduce. This could also be the result of climate change in that warmer and dryer areas could be the result of this. The NW zoo and aquarium alliance are currently working on saving this species, with multiple zoos and aquariums helping out.

I originally researched this species because I think frogs are really cool and wanted to learn more about them. I knew almost nothing about the Oregon Spotted Frog before this project, but now I know how unique this species is, and how vulnerable it currently is

Sources:

http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi-bin/amphib_query?where-genus=Rana&where-species=pretiosa

http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/r.pretiosa.html

http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura/Ranidae/Rana/Rana-pretiosa

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00382/

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/gltiles.html

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/19179/0

https://www.aza.org/current-accreditation-list