Breeding program gives endangered frog with 'baritone' call a fighting chance

Melbourne Zoo has released 200 Watson's tree froglets and 1,200 tadpoles in East Gippsland following a successful breeding program. The species is native to Victoria and NSW and lost 80 per cent of its habitat in the Black Summer bushfires. Scientists will continue to monitor the frogs in the wild to track their numbers. Link copiedShareShare articleScientists hope the baritone call of an endangered native frog that lost most of its habitat in the Black Summer bushfires will be heard in the wild again thanks to a captive breeding program. The endangered Watson's tree frog is native to eastern Victoria and south-eastern New South Wales. About 80 per cent of the frog's habitat was lost in the bushfires. In Victoria's far East Gippsland region it is only known to remain at 10 sites, with breeding only observed at half of those locations. Scientists from Zoos Victoria and the organisation Wild Research released 200 froglets and 1,200 tadpoles from a breeding program for the first time this year. Matt West says there have been limited sightings of the Watson's tree frog in the wild. (Supplied) Wild Research project leader Matt West said he hoped the release marked a turning point for the species. "It's great news because we only know of the frog at 10 small sites, and these releases have allowed us to reintroduce the frog to an additional 30 sites," he said. Watson's tree frogs are about 6 centimetres in size, with brown colouring and bright orange thighs. Listed as nationally endangered, the species is rare and hard to find in the wild. The frogs are members of the whistling tree frog family, but unlike their cousins the frogs have a slow baritone call. The Watson's tree frog was feared extinct after there were no sightings in the wild for 19 years. (Supplied: Zoos Victoria) "They have a very distinctive call and a very distinctive smell. In fact, they smell like curry leaves," Dr West said. Scientists have been trying to follow this sound and smell in the wild to get an idea of how the species is surviving. After 19 years with no sightings, a small group of frogs was spotted in the wild in 2015. The Watson's tree frog is under threat. (Supplied: Stephen Mahony) But the species is under threat, with habitat destruction and disease causing numbers to dwindle. "The 2019-2020 bushfires burnt about 80 per cent of the frog's habitat, and we think that's one of the things that has contributed to the frog's decline," Dr West said. The frogs have also been threatened by the infectious disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by chytrid fungus, along with introduced species such as deer and pigs disturbing the frogs' sensitive breeding grounds. Melbourne Zoo amphibian specialist Damian Goodall said the Watson's tree frog breeding program formed a key part of the Amphibian Bushfire Recovery Centre's recovery programs. Scientists will continue to monitor the froglets and tadpoles to see how the species is adapting in the wild. (Supplied: Zoos Victoria) The federal government funded the centre after the Black Summer bushfires to develop a recovery program for the Watson's tree frog and the Baw Baw and southern corroboree frogs. "Working with critically endangered frogs has been very challenging but also very rewarding," Mr Goodall said. "This year across the five recovery programs … we have released 6,442 offspring back into the wild, so that's a pretty amazing effort." Scientists release Watson's tree froglets and tadpoles into the wild. (Supplied: Zoos Victoria) Scientists will continue to monitor the froglets and tadpoles to see how well they adapt and boost wild populations. "There are a lot of things we still don't understand about Watson's tree frogs, and so any information that we can gain through these releases will really help us speed up the recovery work that we are striving for," Dr West said. Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)PromotionTop StoriesFarrer result turns One Nation from protest to genuine electoral threatCAnalysis by Clare Armstrong

Breeding program gives endangered frog with 'baritone' call a fighting chance

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