Endangered Frog Reintroduced in Southern California Wilds [VIDEO]

Conservationists in California made an attempt to reintroduce to the wild a species of frog that is said to be the most endangered amphibian in the Golden State.

Mountain yellow-legged frogs could once be found in streams across Southern California, but due to disease, habitat loss and other factors in play over the past few decades, populations of the frogs have dwindled.

"We're at a critical point where there's probably less than 300 adults remaining in the wild, and they're spread across three mountain ranges and nine locations," Adam Backlin, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told The Desert Sun. "Our first objective is just to stabilize what's left."

This week a small army of mountain yellow-legged frogs were taken in plastic containers from the laboratory where they were raised and introduced to a native ecosystem. The 65 frogs were released in shallow ponds at the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve near Idyllwild. An additional 40 are meant to be released later next week.

Releasing the endangered frogs into the wild will aid in booting their populations, as the mountain yellow-legged frog can live as long as 14 years, according to the San Diego Zoo, which has also raised the frogs in captivity.

As tadpoles, predator fish like trout are a threat. A prior attempt to reintroduce the frogs failed when conservationists introduced mountain yellow-legged tadpoles back into the ecosystem. A favorite snack of fish, the tadpoles did not survive. As adults, the frogs are hunted by snakes, birds, raccoons and coyotes. The latest reintroduction attempt is made of one-year-old juvenile frogs.

Another threat to the mountain yellow-legged frogs is a deadly fungal disease. The conservationists attempted to steel the frogs against it by bathing them in a bacteria solution that is meant to ward off the disease.

Researchers affixed tiny tracking devices to the frogs to monitor their movement.

"We're going to learn a lot and hopefully get them established at different creeks in the future," Frank Santana, research coordinator at the San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research, said, calling the reintroduction the "first big step."

"Hopefully, the ecosystems will have a better balance once the populations become established."