newly bred hybrid frog

I saw an article on livescience.com about a newly bred frog. It's parents are Agalychnis moreletii (the father) and Agalychnis annae  (the mother). They are very similar frogs. They are endangered and they are both leaf frogs.


here is a description of the frog and it's parents:

The parents look very much alike – in fact their skulls are nearly indistinguishable – but they have different coloration. Their love child resembles both, but is also distinct. It has dark red irises like the papa frog A. moreletii, and the purple-to-blue coloration along its flanks and thighs, like most A. annae, the mama frog. However, its hands and feet are more intense orange than seen in either parent.

the newly bred hybrid frog

My first reaction was, "WOW, this is cool!". Then I thought, "but what was the point of doing it?"  Well aperantly, knowing the behaviors between and of different species of frog is very inportant to conserving them.

 Hybridization experiments like this are helpful in better understanding the inheritance of genes in amphibians, including those determining color patterns, the researchers write.  

 I still am a little fuzzy on how that helps frogs, but I'm sure it does.

 It doesn't  reallty say how they got the frogs to breed, it just says:

 A scientist at The Manchester Museum in England allowed the two species of endangered Central American leaf frogs housed within the same chamber to interbreed.

 So I am kind of curious about that.

I wonder if they will ever name the new frog or breed more.

here is the link to the article: Scientist Creates One-of-a-Kind Frog