Ripley’s Aquariums Celebrate “The Year of the Frog” by Publishing Book on Frogs and Amphibians

15. Jul, 2008 Comments Off

ORLANDO, Fla. (July 15, 2008) – Frog Oddities & Trivia, a new book released by Ripley Publishing, takes a look at a dire problem in a lighthearted, educational way. It’s a fun armchair journey through the rapidly shrinking world of amphibians. Frogs and other amphibians are rapidly going extinct and it is believed that more than half of the 6,000 known species are known or thought to be threatened by extinction.

New Book Calls Attention to Looming Extinction of 32% of all Amphibian Species; All Proceeds go to World-Wide Amphibian Conservation Funds.

Ripley’s Aquariums, in conjunction with Ripley Publishing, created the book to help promote the “Year of the Frog,” a designation that national and international conservation groups has given 2008.

Written by Tim O’Brien and created in the style of a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! book, Frog Oddities & Trivia features more than 50 original cartoons by Ripley’s official illustrator, John Graziano. In addition, there are several early cartoons drawn by Robert Ripley himself. These have been identified as “Ripley Classics.”

“Believe It or Not! The blood cells of a frog are 5 times larger than those of an elephant!”

Robert Ripley was always fascinated with the odd and the unusual and – luckily for him – the animal world was, and is, full of strange and remarkable animal species – often displaying bizarre adaptations for survival.

Ripley studied Mother Nature intensely and during his career created 106,238 cartoons featuring animals, nearly 17% of all he created! More than 500 of his cartoons were dedicated to amphibians. By the 1930s, his daily cartoon was syndicated throughout the world with a readership of more than 80 million people a day!

“What better way to help spread the news about amphibians and their critical status to different cultures and age groups worldwide than through an established cartoon with a worldwide appeal,” notes Joe Choromanski, Ripley’s VP of Husbandry,

“We created this book because we wanted people to see how cool amphibians really are and how regrettable it is that they are disappearing. We want readers to learn about them in an enjoyable way, including their not-so-fun conservation status.”

Standing by its long-standing commitment to conservation and the preservation of all living creatures, Ripley’s Aquariums are distributing, free of charge, more than 10,000 of the books to various zoos, aquariums, and wildlife parks who have pledged to donate all monies from the sale of the book to a world-wide amphibian conservation fund!

The book is also available for purchase in traditional book sales outlets, at www.amazon.com and www.amazon.co.uk

“Believe It or Not! The African Bullfrog can live to be 45 years old, grow to 9.5 inches long and eat animals as large as rats!”

About Ripley’s Aquariums

Ripley Entertainment Inc. owns and operates two world class marine aquariums in the United States. Both are state-of-the-art facilities with a crew of top-notch marine biologists overseeing the watery population. The 87,000 sq. ft. Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, S.C. opened in 1997 and is part of the Broadway at the Beach complex of this popular seaside city. The 115,000 sq. ft. Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies opened in Gatlinburg, Tenn. in 2000 and is located at the gateway to the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Both Ripley aquariums are accredited by the prestigious Assoc. of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and between the two have entertained more than 20 million visitors since 1997. (www.ripleysaquariums.com)

About the Year of the Frog

The global conservation community has named 2008 “The Year of the Frog” as a means of building public awareness of the wide and interesting diversity of amphibians and of the crisis they face. In response to this crisis, Amphibian Ark (www.amphibianark.org) was formed by the World Assoc. of Zoos and Aquariums (www.waza.org) and two branches of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (www.aza.org) is also heavily involved in this response.