Showing as part of Shorts Program 6.

Edgardo and Heidi Griffith are the scientists and husband-and-wife team who first realized how close Panama’s national animal might be to extinction. In the early 2000s a virulent, invasive fungus called chytrid began sweeping through Central America, wiping out endemic amphibians. Entire species were lost and the world barely noticed. As the fungus marched southward, its indiscriminate crosshairs fell upon a bright orange toad in the highlands of Panama. An emblem for the entire nation, the Panama golden frog (actually a toad) finally drew the attention of the global conservation community. But it was too late. By the time David Attenborough arrived in 2007, Edgardo could only find one remnant population. Luckily he had already started breeding golden frogs and dozens of other amphibians in captivity. A decade later the fight continues. A new threat—a fungus particularly deadly to salamanders—looms on the horizon, and Edgardo sets out to find the country’s largest and possibly rarest salamander. This film also features Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction.

Saturday, March 24, 12:00 PM — Carnegie Institution for Science

Tickets: $10