Critically endangered frogs breed at zoo
Mountain chicken frog in its new home at London Zoo.
For the first time in five years, two critically endangered mountain chicken frogs (Leptodactylus fallax) have bred at London Zoo.
Six froglets have hatched. Currently an inch long, they are being fed by their mother, who is laying thousands of unfertilised eggs to provide them with food.
Native to the Caribbean, more than 90 per cent of the population was wiped out by a fungal disease in the early 2000s. A recent survey in Dominica, involving 28 conservationists spending a total of 960 hours searching for the species, found only 21 left in the wild.
The breeding frogs at London Zoo are part of conservation efforts to save the species.
The frogs were recently moved into a new enclosure. Soon after the move, the male began to dig a bowl in the clay-lined nesting chambers to attract his new mate. Unlike most frogs that breed in water, mountain chicken frogs breed in burrows. The pair then created a foam nest for the tadpoles.
Ben Tapley, the Zoological Society of London’s curator of reptiles and amphibians, said: “We are delighted at how quickly the mountain chicken frog colony have settled into their new home. Soon after they arrived, we spotted the female frog guarding her foam nest.
“Mountain chicken frogs are incredible parents. The mother regularly visits the nest to lay unfertile eggs, which the growing brood will feed on, she also guards her nests, puffing up and using her body to defend her young from anything that gets a little too close.”
Image © Zoological Society of London
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