The world’s most threatened frog has bred in a custom-built home at London Zoo, zookeepers have said.
Six inch-long mountain chicken froglets have metamorphosed from tadpoles after two of the critically endangered amphibians bred following a move to the Secret Life of Reptiles and Amphibians exhibit.
The male was brought to London Zoo as part of a breeding programme to bring the rare species back from the brink of extinction – with just 21 of the frogs left in the wild – and paired with two females already at the zoo.
The frogs met in their new home and when they moved in; the huge male frog quickly dug a bowl in the underground clay-lined nesting chambers, and he and his new mate produced a foam nest to lay eggs into.
Female mountain chicken frogs lay thousands of unfertilised eggs for the developing tadpoles to feed on, every one to seven days, producing an estimated 10,000-25,000 eggs for them to eat.
It is the first time the zoo has had mountain chicken froglets in five years.
ZSL’s curator of reptiles and amphibians, Ben Tapley, 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.”
Mountain chicken frogs are one of the largest in the world and were once widespread across the Caribbean, including Montserrat and Dominica.
But a recent survey on their last remaining home in Dominica revealed only 21 of the giant frogs were left alive in the wild.
In the early 2000s, a mass mortality event was discovered to have been caused by the chytrid fungus, wiping out 90% of their population.
In 2009, conservationists from London Zoo and other European zoos airlifted remaining mountain chicken frogs to safety in a bid to save the species from extinction and established a breeding programme for the species.
The family of mountain chicken frogs will be visible to zoo visitors for the first time when the Secret Life of Reptiles and Amphibians exhibit opens to the public this Easter.