A pair of California red-legged frogs, found in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles. It also had the collateral effect of popularizing the California red-legged frog, inspiring annual frog-jumping contests (most famously, the Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee), frog-jumping-related research, and eventually paving the way for the red-legged frog to be named official state amphibian. In a giddy announcement Wednesday, the National Park Service said researchers said they had spotted nine egg masses in streams in the Santa Monica Mountains. There’s still plenty of work to be done, but this is a major moment for the project.”A California red-legged frog egg mass. Researchers said the discovery of the egg masses in the Santa Monica Mountains makes them optimistic that they’ll be able to replicate the breeding efforts elsewhere.

Source: Washington Post March 23, 2017 09:49 UTC