Costa Rica, By Understory Enterprises:

 

Brian Kubicki has been a bastion of amphibian conservation in Costa Rica. Since arriving in the country in 1997 he has become the authority on Central American glass frogs, working tirelessly in the field and seeking out the secrets of their poorly understood ecology. His ground breaking investigations have resulted in the publications of two books, several papers, and even the rediscovery of two lost species of glass frogs in Costa Rica.

In 2003, Brian established the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center in Guayacan, on Costa Rica’s Atlantic versant. The CRARC, the first of its kind in Costa Rica, has become in many respects the epicenter of amphibian research and conservation efforts in the country. On his 45 hectare private reserve the CRARC has hosted countless film crews, students and eco-tourists, allowing them the access to a remarkable array of amphibians, including many endangered and rarely encountered species The importance of CRARC cannot be understated, as the Guayacan is to tree frogs, what the Huallaga Canyon is to dart frogs, an inexplicable congregation of amphibian diversity and abundance, rarely seen even in the neo-tropics.

We are very excited to announce the arrival of the first shipment of Centrolenelids, captive bred at CRARC. A small number of animals have been purchased from Brian, helping to fund his ongoing work in Costa Rica.

Many animals produced at CRARC will be maintained by Understory as part of an ongoing breeding program in collaboration with Brian and the CRARC. This program has been designed to ensure financial liquidity for Brian to allow his conservation work and research to continue while allowing hobbyists access to new and exciting species. What this means is that half of the gross revenue of all the frogs which are bred at Understory, and that have originated from the CRARC will be channeled directly back to the CRARC.  Even if the animal is F9, CRARC will receive its due revenue. All expenses in maintenance, care and marketing as well as logistics will be assumed by Understory. In this way we can use our resources available in Canada to produce animals to help satiate global demand for Costa Rican species, while allowing Brian the time to continue important work in the field thus freeing him from some of the many hours involved in raising dozens of often delicate amphibians.

2009 will be the first of what we hope to be many years working in co-operation with the CRARC, and hopefully together we can provide hobbyists and institutions with legal, healthy captive bred Costa Rican amphibians with the knowledge that the sale of these animals will be helping amphibians where they need it most, in the wild, and preserving and managing vital amphibian habitat.

Please consider directly supporting Brian via his website. Any support would be graciously accepted and appreciated. www.cramphibian.com