Tarvin Lab @ UC Berkeley
Tarvin Lab @ UC Berkeley
Department of Integrative Biology & Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

The first-ever Berkeley Frog Fest is wrapped — we estimate that 1300 people attended!! This definitely exceeded our expectations and we appreciate both volunteer and attendee patience during the event. Thanks for all the frog enthusiasm, it was a true pleasure.

T-shirt sales have closed! We ordered a few extras. If you missed it, let us know.

We would love to see your best pictures from the event! Please submit them via this form: https://forms.gle/2o1DSizegcDP7JuB9 

If you took a photograph in the terrarium, please find and download your image from this folder by September 30: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19FfJ6-Rx3R1YDzvWWxcZCVU2WWr0bdSp?usp=sharing 

The four members of the organizing committee with one of our awesome volunteers in a frog suit.

Left to Right: Maryellen McGoldrick, Rebecca Tarvin, Frog (Annabelle Monroe), Kathy Ho, Anne Chambers

 

Berkeley Frog Fest is a free, family-friendly, community-oriented art and science festival held at UC Berkeley by frog nerds and their friends

The first Berkeley Frog Fest took place:

Sat. Aug. 29, 2026 1-5pm

Genetics & Plant Biology Building south lawn, UC Berkeley Campus

Moments from the first-ever Berkeley Frog Fest

Presenting the winners of the 2026 Berkeley Frog Fest art competition

Winners were selected by a panel of amphibian experts at UC Berkeley and AmphibiaWeb

 

Enjoy all of the art entered into the 2026 Berkeley Frog Fest art competition

Below is the original website for Frog Fest

 
 

Berkeley Frog Fest is a free, family-friendly, community-oriented art and science festival held at UC Berkeley by frog nerds and their friends

The first Berkeley Frog Fest will take place:

Sat. Aug. 29, 2026 1-5pm

Genetics & Plant Biology Building south lawn, UC Berkeley Campus (map below)

Are you planning to attend? Help us estimate attendance: RSVP here.

Interested in volunteering during the event? We now have plenty of volunteers, thank you so much!

 
 
 

Art competition details

Frog fest will be facilitating an amphibian-inspired art competition. Any creative format is welcome! Think frog-themed theater performance! Electronic music sampling frog calls! Digital comic strips, educational posters, poetry, short stories, a sketch of a strange salamander dreamscape, caecilian-themed mugs, mosaics, jewelry, etc. Frogs, salamanders, and caecilians are all welcome inspiration for your creative efforts.

Adult and kid (<13 yo) entries will be judged separately.

Prize categories:

  • Weirdest

  • Cutest

  • Most educational

  • Most frog

  • Most Bay Area

In order to enter the competition and be considered for prizes:

  1. Provide an image of the artwork and information about the artist and the artwork via this form https://forms.gle/Na9yXW5sxtqvcKiF8 by 4:59pm on August 26.

  2. If you would like us to display your art in person during the event please deliver it to Rebecca Tarvin at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA) by 4:59pm on August 27, or bring it directly to Berkeley Frog Fest between 12:30 pm and 1:15 pm on August 29. We will do our very best to take care of every art piece but please note that there is some amount of risk of damage if you choose to display your art in person.

Donors and partners

Best Day Ever Tattoo, 1112 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706

IG: @bestdayevertattoo & @patrickmathews

Art prizes

 
 
 

Where can you find more information about frogs?

OMG I’m so glad you asked! Here’s a quick 101 on frogs and their relatives, the amphibians.

  • Amphibians are ectotherms with moist, permeable skin.

  • Adults are independent of water, but most larvae are not.

  • Linnaeus defined class Amphibia (“dual life”) in 1758 as all vertebrates except mammals, birds, and bony fish

  • Eventually amphibians and reptiles were separated, but “herpetology” (the study of creeping things) persists. “Herpes” has the same root - “a creeping cutaneous eruption”

  • There are three orders of amphibians: salamanders, frogs, and caecilians

Salamanders

  • Four limbs (sometimes reduced)

  • Well-developed tails

  • Costal grooves (except Salamandridae) 

  • 824 species in 2025; 521 species in 2004 (~14 new species/year)

  • Primarily distributed in the northern continents with secondary invasion of the Neotropics

  • Centers of diversity in eastern U.S. and Neotropics (no salamanders in Australia or most of Africa)

Frogs

  • Four robust limbs on a compact body

  • Greatly elongated hind limbs and feet

  • No tail in adults

  • Caudal vertebrae fused into a rod (urostyle) 

  • 7842 species in 2025; 4904 species in 2004 (~140 new species/year)

  • Worldwide distribution

  • Center of diversity in the tropics

Caecilians

  • Limbless (not even girdles!)

  • Elongate, annulated bodies

  • Generally fossorial (burrowing)

  • Reduced eyes that are covered with skin and sometimes bone

  • Crazy fused skulls

  • 231 species in 2025; 165 species in 2004 (~3 new species/year)

  • Circum-tropical distribution

 

Expert-curated websites

These have general information, images, range maps, and calls for many species. Better than wikipedia!

2026 Berkeley Frog Fest organizing committee

Rebecca Tarvin, Anne Chambers, Maryellen McGoldrick, Kathy Ho

2026 Berkeley Frog Fest volunteers

Adri Jeckel, Ammon Corl, Anjali Matthews, Annabelle Monroe , April Kwon, Brooklyn Stone, Carol Spencer, Charlie Voirin, Daniel Oliveira, Dave Blackburn, Dave Cannatella, Diego Ocampo, Elizabeth Nichols, Emma Bustamante, Evan Ho, Gabriel Cavin, Imogen Albert, Indra Deshmukh, Julia Lippert, Justine Moon, Katie Monat, Keili Ayala Picazo, Kinsington Peterson, Kristin Bass, Michal and Sivan Shuldman, Michelle Koo, Nessa Kmetec, Pooneh Kalhori, Rayna Bell, Richard Harland, Sarah Wenner, Sarah Zdebski, Vance Vredenberg, Ziting Chen

Other useful books and sites