Frogs & Friends

Using cross-media formats, our aim was to bring amphibians into public awareness as a symbol of the threats we are facing because of biodiversity. Together with an interdisciplinary network of scientists, media creators, and designers, we developed initial formats for science communication.

Within the same year, the initiative evolved into an independent non-profit association, which is now active internationally in amphibian conservation. IMF played a central role in the early stages and continues to collaborate closely with Frogs & Friends – especially in the field of science communication.

From the very beginning, Frogs & Friends combined solid research with innovative media communication. The foundation lay in scientific findings from international amphibian and biodiversity research, complemented by the expertise of practitioners in veterinary medicine and animal care. These contents were translated together with media designers and filmmakers into cross-media formats that connect information and emotion. In parallel, the first permanent installations were created in European zoos.

The guiding principle: to make complex interrelations around biodiversity and ecosystems understandable without losing scientific precision. In this way, Frogs & Friends built a bridge between research and the public – with the aim of portraying amphibians not only as an endangered group of animals but as ambassadors for the state of our environment and humanity’s shared responsibility.

At the project's launch several online formats were created that placed amphibians at the centre in imaginative ways, bringing the mission of Frogs & Friends to life:

Parallel to and complementing the digital projects, the first permanent exhibitions conceived and realized by Frogs & Friends were created in 2016 at the zoos in Vienna, Zurich, and Cologne.

Frogs & Friends was realized in close collaboration with an interdisciplinary network of scientists, media designers, and conservationists. The close interplay between research, creative design, and hands-on work in nature and species conservation has been a defining feature of the project from the very beginning.

Its most sustainable impact, however, lies in its institutional evolution: Shortly after its launch, the IMF initiative developed into an independent non-profit association, which today operates successfully in international amphibian conservation and unites a growing network of experts from science, culture, and civil society.

In 2020, Managing Director Björn Encke was appointed to the Board of the Amphibian Survival Alliance, the global umbrella organization for amphibian protection. In 2022, Frogs & Friends presented a feasibility study on the conservation of the native fire salamander, curated by Johannes Penner, which has since served as the basis for all current efforts to combat the deadly fungal disease threatening the species.

A major milestone came in 2018 with the founding of Citizen Conservation (CC). Through this initiative, Frogs & Friends brought together the Association of Zoological Gardens and the German Society for Herpetology and Herpetoculture (DGHT) to establish coordinated breeding programs for endangered species, for the first time actively involving private wildlife keepers. In 2019, Heiko Werning and Björn Encke were recognized as Cultural and Creative Pilots of the Federal Republic of Germany for their work on CC. Two years later, CC was spun off as a non-profit limited company (gGmbH), but continues to be significantly guided by the Frogs & Friends team.

A recent highlight was the opening of the Amphibium at Hanover Zoo in May 2024, a state-of-the-art amphibian house conceptualized and realized by Frogs & Friends over a period of three years. For further information and current updates, please visit the official website of Frogs & Friends.