SANTA MONICA—The red-legged frog, scientific name Rana draytonii, which is considered to be extinct and is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Now, 600 tadpoles of this type of frog are swimming in streams in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The eggs from which these tadpoles came from were rescued in March 2025 by biologists working for the National Park Service who conducting efforts to deal with the storms that endangered the lifestyle of the frogs as their natural habit is the streams located in the Santa Monica Mountains. Also, they lay eggs in those streams. Afterwards the biologists by took them to the Aquarium of the Pacific, a non-profit which is located in Long Beach, California, and it was there that the staff hatched them and then nurtured the tadpoles. Over the summer, the biologists from the National Park Service will be monitoring the frogs to track their development.
The last confirmed sightings of the red legged frog were in the 1970s and in 2014 efforts began to reintroduce them to the Santa Monica Mountains.
By Daniel Diquinzio