ECUADOR: BIOLOGIST REARS ELEVEN SPECIES OF RARE FROGS

Record ID: 639738

  • Title: ECUADOR: BIOLOGIST REARS ELEVEN SPECIES OF RARE FROGS
  • Date: 4th July 1995
  • Summary: ESMERALDAS PROVINCE, ECUADOR (RECENT) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV GERMAN BIOLOGIST RICHARD SCHMAL-BACH WALKING THROUGH HIS FROG FARM LOOKING AT FROGS 0.03 2. GV'S VARIOUS OF GREEN AND RED COLOURED FROGS 0.25 3. MV SCHMAL-BACH SAYING HOW IT IS NOT SO EASY TO LOOK AFTER THEM DESPITE HIS LOVE FOR THEM (SPANISH) 0.37 4. MV RED FROG HOPPING UP LEAF (3 SHOTS) 0.47 5. CU FROG IN A HAND 0.53 6. MV FROG CLIMBING UP LEAF 1.00 7. CU VIEW OF PEN/ FROG ON LEAF 1.07 8. GV VARIOUS OF FROGS ON LEAVES (5 SHOTS) 1.14 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 19th July 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ESMERALDAS PROVINCE, ECUADOR
  • City:
  • Country: Ecuador LATIN AMERICA
  • Reuters ID: LVA28GFJQ2RWHE2ST3A7D4JR9RSJ
  • Story Text: INTRO: Tiny frogs have stolen the heart of a German biologist working in Ecuador, who says his love for the amphibians has turned a hobby into a profitable business.

    Biologist Richard Schmal-Bach has always been fascinated by frogs.

    But the creatures leapt even more in his estimation when he realised they could make him a small fortune.

    Schmal-Bach, who rears eleven species of rare frogs at his base in Ecuador where he is studying fertility, discovered a burgeoning market in Asia.

    Some of his frogs valued at just one U.S. dollar each in Ecuador can sell in the Far east for 15 times that figure.

    The amphibious farm which the German has built houses several thousand frogs, some of which are protected species, and is an ideal environment for the tiny amphibians to reproduce.

    Schmal-Bach, who admits to having developed an attachment to the frogs, said their personalities were influenced by their colours - the light green ones were timid while the brighter ones used the intensity of their colour to fend off enemies. But he concedes the frogs are difficult to look after.

    Schmal-Bach said he hoped the exporting business would continue to boom, but his real interest remained to protect the frogs because of his love for them.


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