fischer lab community engagement

we believe science is for everyone and are committed to giving back to our community through interactive opportunities for all ages. we also love frogs.

about us

we are a team of researchers at the university of illinois urbana-champaign. our research uses charismatic frogs to understand how the brain builds behavior and how behaviors evolve.

in addition to our research, we are passionate about education, community engagement, and showing off the frogs to diverse audiences.

look around. get in touch. come see the frogs.

learn more about us and our research at ekfischerlab.com

meet the frogs

  • dyeing poison frog

    Dendrobates tinctorius

    Size: 40-60 mm.

    Range: forests throughout French Guiana and Northeastern Brazil

    Who parents? dad

    Fun Facts: When tadpoles hatch, their dad carries them one by one to a pool where they develop until metamorphosis into froglets. Unlike many frog species, D. tinctorius do not produce calls.

  • mimic poison frog

    Ranitomeya imitator

    Size: 17-22 mm

    Range: Peru

    Who parents? mom and dad

    Fun Facts: R. imitator get their common name from the way they mimic the colors and patterns of their nearby cousin species. In this system, dad carries individual tadpoles to small pools of water and calls to mom when tadpoles need care. Mom appears and feeds her hungry babies with unfertilized eggs, one tadpole at a time.

  • Zimmerman's poison frog

    Ranitomeya variabilis

    Size: 17-18 mm

    Range: Amazonian Drainage Basin in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador

    Who parents? dad

    Fun Facts: R. variabilis is one of the species that R. imitator mimics. Even though they look the same they can be differentiated by their calls. R. variabilis have short, buzz-like calls compared to the cricket-like trills of R. imitator

  • golden poison frog

    Phyllobates terribilis

    Size: 37-47mm

    Range: A small plot of rainforest in Colombia; this species is currently endangered

    Who parents? dad

    Fun Facts: This species is the most toxic land vertebrate in the world! Their toxins were historically used by native tribes to coat the tips of arrows and darts for hunting, giving this species and others like it the name “poison dart frog.”

  • Anthony's poison frog

    Epipedobates anthonyi

    Size: 19-25mm

    Range: Ecuador to Peru

    Who parents? dad

    Fun facts: E. anthonyi are the least toxic among the poison frog species in our lab, although like our other species they still advertise their toxicity to predators through their bring warning coloration - also called aposematic coloration.

  • common coquí

    common coquí

    Eleutherodactylus coqui

    Size: 50-63 mm

    Range: Native to Puerto Rico but are an invasive species in California, Florida, Central America, and Hawaii

    Who parents? dad

    Fun facts: If a clutch is disturbed by a predator, the father may abandon or even eat his clutch! E. coqui skip the tadpole state and offspring instead hatch from eggs as tiny froglets - a process known as direct development. This is one of our non-toxic species.

  • Fleischmann's glass frog

    Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni

    Size: 19-32 mm

    Range: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua

    Who parents? dad

    Fun facts: These guys are see through! You can see their organs (and eggs when they have them) right through their belly skin! Glass frogs lay their eggs on leaves above streams. Once tadpoles hatch after being faithfully protected by dad, they fall into the water below. This is one of our non-toxic species.