This is a day set aside for frogs and the people who love them. The Atlanta Botanical Garden hopes the numbers of both will increase.

Today is Leap Day, that day that only comes around every four years, when the shortest month of the year tacks on an extra day to, well, keep everything in balance, celestially speaking.

Joey Ivansco/ AJC/Staff (ENLARGE)

Pratt's Rocket Frog is one of the many varieties the Atlanta Botanical Garden invites visitors to get to know.

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And no balance may be more imperiled, says amphibian expert Ron Gagliardo, than the world's frog populations. In some areas of the globe, frogs are falling silent, vanishing, leaping no more. This is a day to remember them. The garden also has set aside Saturday as a special day to celebrate frogs. Events take place both days from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This, too, is the year to recognize their place on this planet. So, on Leap Day — OK, Leap Days, since Saturday is included — in the Year of the Frog, the Atlanta Botanical Garden is inviting you to come see ...

... would you believe frogs making whoopee?

The garden is inviting people to come see hoppers of every stripe, every color. Blue frogs with stunning black spots. Green frogs with stoplight eyes. Frogs streaked the color of sunset.

And, yes, frogs with sex on their minds. Gagliardo, the garden's curator of tropical collections, is hoping to create the right environment for African clawed frogs to cast big round eyes at each other and do what nature intended — and never mind the hordes standing by on the other side of the glass.

"We'll lower the lights a little, yes," he said.

Kidding aside, organizations all over the planet have set aside today to showcase the plight of frogs. Beset by habitat loss, besieged by a deadly fungus, frogs are in unprecedented trouble. Biologists liken their peril to that which faced dinosaurs millions of years ago. What would this world be if it suddenly lost frogs?

The garden is hoping people will come, look, and leave knowing that frogs belong in backyards, in ponds and in rain forests. Some of the activities there include:

• Meeting frog experts, including Dante Fenolio, the garden's recently hired amphibian research scientist. He and Gagliardo will take turns presenting a lunchtime lecture about the world's amphibians – Fenolio today, and Gagliardo on Saturday.

• The frog Discovery Cart, a hands-on, interactive exhibit, will be at the Fuqua Conservatory.

• Kid stuff. Children are encouraged to make their own puppet, or perhaps assemble a hopping frog to take home.

• "Stick the Fly to the Frog's Tongue," a game that bears a remarkable resemblance to an endeavour featuring a donkey. This is a family game. Dads, don't turn your back!

And, yes, don't forget the clawed frogs, perhaps clawing each other.

Also represented at the festivities are the Georgia Herpetological Society, the Nature Conservancy, and Zoo Atlanta's amphibian program.

For more information about Leap Day, or the garden's amphibian conservation program, visit atlantabotanicalgarden.org.