Rare 'mountain chicken' frogs airlifted from path of deadly fungus

[depakid]

One of the 'mountain chicken' frogs at the London zoo rescue centre.
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Conservationists have rescued a number of critically endangered "mountain chicken" frogs from the path of a fatal disease which has hit their Caribbean island home of Montserrat.

The decision to remove 50 mountain chicken frogs (leptodactylus fallax) from their natural habitat was taken in the face of the spread of the chytrid fungus, which is devastating amphibian populations worldwide. The Zoological Society London (ZSL) and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, based in Jersey, have each provided a home for 12 of the frogs which have been removed from Montserrat. Another 26 have gone to Parken zoo in Stockholm.

The plan is to breed the rescued frogs in captivity in a bid to save the species from extinction.

Montserrat is one of only two sites where the once-common mountain chicken is found, but hundreds of the frogs - one of the world's largest species - have been killed in the last few weeks by the disease. The mountain chicken - named because its flesh is said to taste like chicken - is threatened by hunting for food and loss of habitat, and most recently by outbreaks of the chytrid fungus.

Chytrid fungus is a disease which infects the skin through which many amphibians drink and breathe. In recent decades it has spread rapidly, and some scientists believe the situation is worsening as temperatures rise due to of climate change. The other stronghold of the species, Dominica, saw populations crash from around 2002 onwards as a result of the disease, which is thought to have spread to Montserrat late last year or earlier this year.

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Scientists working with the Montserrat government were able to reach the main healthy population, which they knew would be soon by hit by the spreading chytrid, and remove individuals before it was too late, he said. The Durrell trust has housed its rescued mountain chickens in a bio-secure unit at its wildlife park in Jersey and hopes to breed from the frogs to create a population which can be reintroduced in as little as two years.

ZSL London zoo will now house mountain chicken frogs from both Dominica and Montserrat in its captive breeding unit which includes temperature controlled rooms, automated spray systems and dedicated areas for rearing live food. Bio-security measures including full paper suits, masks and gloves worn by keepers, ensure that no pathogens - such as the chytridiomycosis - can enter from the outside.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/21/wildlife-conservation

[Barrett808]

1. A billion frogs on world's plates, accelerating amphibian extinctions

Up to one billion frogs are taken from the wild for human consumption each year, according to a new study.

Researchers arrived at this conclusion by analysing UN trade data, although they acknowledge there is a lot of uncertainty in the figure.

(more)

http://desdemonadespair.blogspot.com/2009/01/billion-frogs-on-world-plates.html

[Nihil]

3. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised ...

> Up to one billion frogs are taken from the wild for human consumption each year

... f*ck me! :wow:

[madokie]

4. Back in the late '70s you could go into any restaurant around here

and they would have frog leggs on the menu, even places that one would think would be the last place to have them. Then all of a sudden there were no more frog leggs on the menus. India passed a law forbidding the export of any part of a frog because they were being eaten alive by mosquitos since they had started sending the frog leggs to us. Anyways, I don't have time to find a link but if one was to check it out it can be found. :hi:

[DKRC]

2. Nature video / Frogs: The Thin Green Line

Frogs: The Thin Green Line

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/frogs-the-thin-green-line/video-full-episode/4882/
(Video)

It is the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs. Population by population, species by species, amphibians are vanishing off the face of the Earth. Despite international alarm and a decade and a half of scientists scrambling for answers, the steady hemorrhaging of amphibians continues like a leaky faucet that cannot be fixed or a wound that will not heal. Large scale die-offs of frogs around the world have prompted scientists to take desperate measures to try to save those frogs they can, even bathing frogs in Clorox solutions and keeping them in Tupperware boxes under carefully controlled conditions to prevent the spread of a deadly fungus. Will it ever be safe to return the frogs back to the ecosystem from which they were taken?

Information on the fungus & the people rescuing amphibians in different locations around the world. We watched it on PBS a couple of weeks ago. Well worth the time.