Mountain Yellow-legged Frog

If you were to pick up one of these small (two to three inch) frogs to see its striking yellow legs and underbelly, you’d smell … garlic? Emitting a pungent odor when disturbed, the mountain yellow-legged frog sticks close to water and can be found in the alpine lakes of the Sierra Nevada as well as southern California. However, reduced snowpack may cause the lakes to dry out during the critical summer months when these rare amphibians breed. The mountain yellow-legged frog is also threatened by infectious chytrid fungus, which has broken out in amphibian populations across the globe in areas disturbed by global warming.

Scientific name: Rana muscosa
IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered
Endangered Species Act List: Critically Endangered
Region: West