Frogs from around the world hop into the Museum of the Rockies

Over a hundred frogs from across the globe clung to leaves and branches while visitors leaned in close to watch them hop, climb and call inside the Museum of the Rockies (MOR).

Last Friday, the MOR opened a new traveling exhibit called “Frogs: A Chorus of Colors” to the public. According to the museum’s website, it is designed to educate visitors about frog habitats, behaviors and ecological importance.

Senior Director of Marketing Alicia Harvey said the exhibit coming to Bozeman aligns closely with the museum’s mission of bringing the world to Montana. 

“This exhibit offers a rare chance to experience live frogs from around the world up close while learning about their beauty, biology and ecological importance,” she said.

“We have a really big, wide and diverse array of amphibians in the world,” said Jeremy Turnbow, a traveling zookeeper with Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland. According to Turnbow, Reptiland is a traveling exhibition partner that supplies the live frogs for the exhibit and provides a professional zookeeper to the MOR.

“I’m in charge of feeding and taking care of all of the frogs here, making sure that they remain healthy.” Turnbow said. 

“It's nice seeing all of the frogs. Unfortunately, in the wild they are not doing great, mostly due to habitat loss and water pollution causing a steep decline in numbers,” he said.

Turnbow said he hopes visitors leave the exhibit more aware of these challenges and motivated to help protect amphibians.

Cooper Cowan, a recent MSU graduate, attended the exhibit’s opening. “Any opportunity to see wildlife that isn’t from your area is pretty eye-opening,” he said. 

Cowan, who earned a degree in environmental engineering at MSU, said his interest in wildlife and unique educational experiences drew him to the exhibit.

According to him, one of his favorite parts of the exhibit was the frogs’ movements. “Watching the poison dart frogs was really cool, there was one that was jumping around and trying to climb on its walls,” Cowan said. 

He also said exhibits featuring live animals are really cool, and are uncommon among rotating exhibits that he has seen at the museum.

David Cruse, a software engineer with Microsoft, visited the MOR while traveling through Bozeman on a ski trip. Cruse said that his group was looking for something to do in the area and decided to stop by the museum. 

 “I liked seeing the little ‘90s style kiosks where you press the buttons and they give you information about each species,” he said.

Harvey said the opening event demonstrated the strong support of the museum’s members and community. 

“The museum works with traveling exhibition companies up to five years in advance to schedule and plan for them,” Harvey said. “We take pride in fulfilling our mission while providing engaging visitor experiences.”

The exhibit will be at the MOR until Sept. 7. To find out more about it, visit https://museumoftherockies.org/.