"Spring Forward" with Disney's Animal Kingdom

As part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s events to help connect families with wildlife on March 4th they had a “leap day” event. This event had nothing to do with a leap year but everything to do with frogs and amphibians and how we can help! This fun little event took place at Rafiki’s Planet Watch and was free to all guests of the park.

Among the event’s were the chance to design your own “toad abode”, a flower pot(free from Disney) that you drew on to create a perfect shelter for frogs in your back yard. There was also an area where you could fold your own origami tree frog and learn more about www.aza.org/frogwatch which is a great way to help track frogs just by keeping your ears open. FrogWatch USA is AZA’s flagship citizen science program that invites individuals and families to learn about the wetlands in their communities and help conserve amphibians by reporting the calls of local frogs and toads. Volunteers are trained to enter their FrogWatch USA information and ongoing analyses of these data have been used to help develop practical strategies for the conservation of frogs. This conversation program has been around for over ten years!

Two of the most important areas were where you could learn more about the need of frog conservation and how you can help. First was an area dedicated in teaching guests on how they can help save frogs near them. The other was an exhibit where you could meet the critically endangered Puerto Rican crested toad and learn about the efforts to bring them back from the brink of extinction.

As with any Animal Kingdom event they mix the story of conservation and preservation with a few fun activities. First was the leap to find out what type of frog you are, ironically I was a American Bullfrog with my whopping 6 foot leap.

But by far my favorite area was examining how amphibians adapt. This activity consisted of sitting on the floor and playing with a “sticky frog tongue” and collecting bugs with facts on the back of them. With each fact you would “earn” different frog adaptations as seen here with my poison, suction glove, bullfrog air sack, and adapted eyes.

Around the Planet Watch area were other fun facts and displays about our amphibian friends. This event was one of many conservation events that Disney’s Animal Kingdom and The Seas with Nemo and Friends host throughout the year. And hopefully their goal of educating guests about conservation makes an impact for those that visit.