{"id":70825,"date":"2025-09-18T03:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T03:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/70825\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T03:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T03:45:07","slug":"endangered-red-and-yellow-mountain-frogs-are-bred-for-first-time-years-of-work-to-save-the-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/70825\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered Red and Yellow Mountain Frogs Are Bred for First Time\u2013Years of Work to Save the Species"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u2013 credit Southern Cross University<\/p>\n

A unique and beautiful mountain-dwelling frog has been bred in captivity and released in the wild\u2014the culmination of years of work by scientists and conservationists.<\/p>\n

Dwelling in rainforests at higher elevation in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales states in Australia, the red and yellow mountain frog was one of 110 priority species the government hoped to save over the next 25 years.<\/p>\n

Captive breeding programs are rarer in amphibians than other animals, but the researchers at Southern Cross University have managed it. It required them to replicate much of the frog\u2019s natural habitat; a challenging demand.<\/p>\n

Unlike other tadpoles that swim around and feed, the infant red and yellows develop inside their egg sacs and emerge just three millimeters in length\u2014another challenge as they have to be examined via magnifying lenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to get from egg to adult breeding stage has taken us four years\u2026 so it\u2019s a much longer project than we ever envisaged,\u201d said associate professor David Newell, whose colleague, research fellow Liam Bolitho, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s temperature that we have to try to mimic, the substrate, plants, and also the sound, so we play them frog chorusing calls that we\u2019ve recorded from the rainforest,\u201d Dr. Bolitho told ABC News AU.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Researchers David Newell (left) and Liam Bolitho (right) \u2013 credit Southern Cross University<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these things we have to get perfectly right for them to breed, otherwise it\u2019s not successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a very secretive place, a solemn yet hopeful ceremony was held as the research team, in partnership with national parks employees and members of the Githabul traditional owners, released 7 red and yellow frogs into a fenced off environment to begin a new chapter in their lives.<\/p>\n

MORE AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS: <\/strong>Recovery of Endangered Marsupials is Utterly \u2018Extraordinary\u2019\u2013 Population Up 45% Since Australian Bushfires<\/a><\/p>\n

Like many animals in Australia, these frogs are threatened by invasive species like feral pigs. These mammals love to wallow in the pools where the frogs lay their eggs. One wrong roll can wipe out a whole generation of tadpoles.<\/p>\n

Droughts can also dry out pools and creeks entirely, or shrink them down and thus increase the chance that pigs will smash the eggs.<\/p>\n

MORE TINY FROGS: <\/strong>Three New Frog Species Discovered as Scientists Trek to Remote Peaks in the Andes Where No Roads Go<\/a><\/p>\n

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife department has undertaken feral pig trapping programs and fenced off several important frog habitats, while the Githabul and other local landowners vigilantly report any pig activity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot of work to save a 3 centimeter-long frog that few Australians will ever see, but it\u2019s a big point of pride for this coalition of scientists and landowners who want to see this magnificent, rainforest ecosystem remain intact.<\/p>\n

SHARE All This Effort To Save A Frog On A Far Away Mountaintop\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2013 credit Southern Cross University A unique and beautiful mountain-dwelling frog has been bred in captivity and released…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[1128,1868,3616,18,8459,48881,19,17,11660,133,461],"class_list":{"0":"post-70825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-biodiversity","10":"tag-conservation","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-endangered-species","13":"tag-frogs","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-rainforest","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}