Sounds of Survival – Katie Garrett / bioGraphic (2018)

“Sound can be a tool for conservation”.
— Ben Mirin

Sound can be extremely informative in wildlife context. Many animals including mammals from cetaceans to bats appear to have mastered acoustic communication. Cooperative animals such as marmosets can take turns during their conversations and relay multi layer information through seemingly simple high pitched calls such as identity, age, location and gender which can be very effective in dense forest environments.

Therefore it is real important to tap into this highly informative medium for wildlife biologists.

Technological tools are increasingly becoming handy for capturing sound. For instance, a small antenna can convert a tablet into a “bat radio” enabling analysis of the sound profiles and identify the bat species producing the calls.

The bioacousticians and musicians Bernie Krause and Trevor Cox have captured compelling recordings with documentary value. There are dedicated nature sound recordists from around the globe collaborating to develop sound archives. Organizations such as Nature Conservancy is monitoring the health of conservation areas by listening to these places on regular intervals.

Cusuco National Park in northwest Honduras is home to a critically endangered species. The exquisite spike-thumb frog (Plectrohyla exquisita) is one of 16 different species of amphibians listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Deforestation, climate change and the infectious chytrid fungus have decimated frog populations. The disease was detected in the park in 2007.

Scientist Jonathan Kolby founded the Honduras Amphibian Rescue & Conservation Center (HARCC), an organization that is working to both treat juvenile frogs infected with chytrid fungus and develop a breeding and reintroduction program for several endangered species.

Despite more than a decade of field work in the park, nobody have never heard or recorded the exquisite spike-thumb frogs’ mating call. Recordings of these calls can be very useful tools. Replays of mating calls can behaviorally encourage frogs to breed in captivity. With the help of sound artist Ben Mirin, the team set out to record the enigmatic frog’s call.