CA's Endangered Frog Could Bounce Back, Thanks To AI: Report

California’s endangered red-legged frog, now mostly found in the Bay Area and along the Central Coast, might soon be hopping back into more parts of the state — with a little help from muddy-boot scientists and artificial intelligence, LAist reports.

Once widespread, the state’s signature amphibian, also the largest native frog in the western U.S., saw its numbers plummet decades ago after habitat loss, overdevelopment and over-harvesting pushed it to the brink.

To reverse that trend, conservation biologist Anny Peralta-Garcia, based in Ensenada, Baja California, helped collect red-legged frog eggs from a pond in Mexico and reintroduce them to the species' historic range in California five years ago, according to LAist.

Now, Peralta-Garcia and a dedicated team of amphibian researchers are waiting to see if their efforts are paying off.

"We were like, OK, if frogs reach sexual maturity in two years, maybe three, maybe four, we should be seeing something," Peralta-Garcia told LAist. "But then, third year, fourth year, nothing."

This year, the team took a new approach. Using a custom-built AI model, they analyzed thousands of hours of audio recorded at the reintroduction sites. The software successfully identified the mating calls of mature male frogs, evidence that the species may be reestablishing itself in the region.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California red-legged frog now only inhabits 35 counties statewide. Its range stretches from southern Mendocino to Santa Barbara along the Coast Range, through the northern Transverse Ranges from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, and in isolated pockets within the Sierra Nevada foothills, Riverside County, and San Diego County. Although the species has vanished from the Central Valley, it remains relatively common in the San Francisco Bay Area and along the Central Coast.

Additional populations are found in Baja California, Mexico. The recent detection in San Diego County marked the first time in 25 years that the red-legged frog had been heard there. Soon after, a new egg mass appeared — a promising sign. It’s the latest example of how tools like AI are becoming critical aids for conservationists and field biologists in their efforts to confront the mounting extinction crisis.

"It's been like an impossible dream since the '90s to actually be able to go out and see wild frogs at these sites again," Robert Fisher, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told LAist.

Read more from LAist: Muddy boots and AI are helping this threatened California frog to make a comeback