Mississippi gopher frogs spend most of their lives underground, in burrows created by gopher tortoises — hence their name — and other animals. In the winter, they migrate to temporary ponds to breed, and after breeding, they migrate back to the forested, longleaf-pine uplands. But 98 percent of America’s native longleaf-pine forest has now been destroyed, and fire suppression, drought, pesticides, urban sprawl, highway construction, and the decline of gopher tortoises have made this frog so rare it now lives in only three small Mississippi ponds.

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 2001

CRITICAL HABITAT: None

RECOVERY PLAN: None

RANGE: Glen’s Pond, Mike’s Pond, and McCoy’s Pond in Mississippi

THREATS: Habitat destruction and degradation from proposed housing construction (a 20,000-unit development is planned 200 feet from the frog’s main pond), construction and expansion of two highways, a proposed reservoir, drought, pesticides, and disease

POPULATION TREND: Inadequate information is available on the remnant Mississippi population to determine trends, but the species was once believed to occur in nine or 10 counties or parishes in the states of Louisiana (two to three populations), Mississippi (six populations), and Alabama (one population). In 2003, the population had declined to just 100 known frogs breeding in a single, four-acre pond on the DeSoto National Forest in Mississippi. However, in 2004, one calling male was observed at an additional pond and 50 tadpoles were collected from another pond. The total frog population is estimated to be less than 250 mature individuals.