30th Annual ~ American Frog Day ~ October 26, 2024

  Will be talking on: “20 years of poison frogs exploring (and not a single good photo) disentangling the poison frogs diversity using naturalistic exploring!!  Daniel Mejia  Colombian biologist specialist in Dendrobatidae with extensive experience in the field and in the lab!  His main interest include: Biogeography, systematic behavior of frogs. Over the last 20 years he has dedicated himself to explore his native Colombia in search of dart frogs, fish (specializing in Cichlids and Rivulidae) and plants, buying the parental distribution of diverse groups to enrich biographical hypothesis.  He has a species of Killifish named after him and has been responsible for the discovery of countless cichlids not to mention frogs and plants. He is one of the people responsible for the genus change in Ranitomeya.  You won’t want to miss this!!!

Brad is a graduate of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Prior to attending veterinary college he worked for two years with the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit at UGA during which he managed and assisted with various aquatic field research projects. This work experience and his long time fascination with natural history have contributed to his current interests in amphibian medicine and conservation, and ongoing studies of orchid and carnivorous plant ecosystems.

In the mid 1990’s Brad and Ron Gagliardo built the first tropical amphibian exhibits at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Brad’s extensive of experience with both the captive management of amphibians and many years of field studies in North, Central, and South America and southeast Asia have provided him with unique perspectives on clinical amphibian diseases and their management; education which is not available through classic university curriculum.

Brad has consulted on amphibian health management issues with captive tropical amphibian collections throughout Central and South America and Southeast Asia. He has also lectured and instructed at numerous amphibian husbandry and medicine workshops throughout these regions. In addition to his interests in herpetology, Brad is very active in plant conservation particularly with native orchids and

carnivorous plants in the southeastern United States. In addition to co-owner of two veterinary practices in metro Atlanta, he is a Conservation Scientist employed at The Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Among the highlights of Brad’s travels are the tepuis of the Guiana Shield in Venezuela and multiple trips to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. He has enjoyed capturing and presenting the essence of these unique and fragile communities through still photography and videography. Brad’s Still images may be viewed at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/frogdr/

Ivan will be speaking on behalf of ACA 

(Active Conservation Alliance) 

Ivan has been a regular speaker at American Frog Day events since 2014 and has been a tremendous advocate for amphibian conservation (& many other endemic Colombian animals). 

Tesoros de Colombia Sustainable Farm is a private company registered in Bogota and created by conservationists aimed to protect and conserve native and endemic Colombian species through sustainable bio commerce, research and habitat protection.

He will share light on the exciting captive breeding program with the harpy eagle and some other conservation projects with some Andinobates species such as Supata and Tolimensis. 

He will provide further insight into what your donation contributions are being spent on in the conservation of habitat restoration and community relations. Stay tune as these projects are definitely something to be proud of. 

To date, Tesoros de Colombia has achieved, among its most significant results, the reduction of illegal trafficking in Colombian poisonous frogs, which were highly demanded in Europe and the United States. some of them are: Phyllobates terribilis, Phyllobates bicolor, Phyllobates aurotaenia, Dendrobates truncatus, and Dendrobates auratus.