Hello everyone -- welcome to Melbourne Zoo’s Frog Blog!
My name is Raelene and I’m lucky enough to be working with frogs at Melbourne Zoo. 

The world’s zoos are working hard to spread the word that frogs are in danger around the world, and that includes right here in our own backyards. Frogs are disappearing so fast that we need to do something now, or they might be gone forever!  I cannot imagine a world without frogs- Can you?

But the good news is that there are things we can do to help! YES, YOU TOO!!!!

April 2011

Well it has been an extremely busy 4 months. I have been taking part in frog fieldwork this whole time, heading out almost every week looking for Spotted Tree Frogs.

All the way from Mitta Mitta in the states North East through to Eildon, just a couple of hours away from Melbourne, are the areas where we have been searching for these frogs. Spotted Tree frogs can be quite varied in colour. Some can be a beautiful bright warty green, while others can be brown with mottled dark spots. During the months of December and January, the males and female frogs come out along the streams to breed.

These frogs like to hang out on overhanging vegetation near the stream such as branches and log jams. Some like to sit on ferns that grow along the banks of the streams, while others like to sit on large boulders both within and alongside the stream. Males have a very soft call making them very hard to find when you're walking in waist deep fast flowing water!

Females lay their eggs in crevices in the water between rocks and boulders. The eggs like cold and well oxygenated water. When the tadpoles hatch out they have sucker type mouths to hold onto rocks while they are in the stream so that they don't get washed away.

Now back to the World Of Frogs...
The Southern Corroboree Frogs in the Endangered Amphibian Complex are all doing extremely well. All of the adult frogs were placed into their breeding tanks in late December, and the male frogs started to call during late January. To date we have found approximately 100 eggs. Fingers crossed for more, as there is likely to be many other females that are gravid (this is a fancy term for having eggs).

Raelene

Don't forget....

'It seems to me that if you wait until the frogs and toads
have croaked their last to take some action,
you've missed the point.' Kermit the Frog

November 2010

What great frogging weather we are having!

All these lovely days then rain makes for perfect frog weather. Next time we have a nice warm day and then thunderstorms or showers in the afternoon, go check out your local wetlands, they should be bustling with frog noises.

There are now frogs in the Endangered Amphibian Complex. There are our 1 year old frogs in the viewing window so our visitors can see live Southern Corroboree Frogs up close. Three weeks ago we also moved all of the adults over. We have 24 adults that are currently undergoing the winter cold snap at 5 degrees. In a couple more weeks we will start to warm them up and get them feeding on crickets. This will ensure that they are in good body condition for when they move into the breeding tanks around the start of December.

I'm off into the field next week, looking for Spotted Tree Frogs. Hopefully all the rain up in North Eastern Victoria hasn't flooded all the streams and we can locate some of these frogs that like to hang out in overhanging vegetation near the water and on the rocky stream edges.

The attached picture above shows Healesville Sanctuary's Spotted Tree Frog room. The keepers up there have done an amazing job replicating where these frogs live. Check them out...

Happy spring time!

Raelene

October 2010

Hello to all my frog friends!

Spring is back around again. How quickly the seasons come and go. Many of our frog species have started to become active and are eating more and starting to make their advertisement calls to attract a mate.

The construction of the Endangered Amphibian Complex is almost complete, and throughout the next couple of months we will be slowly moving frogs into the room. It will look great at the end with lots of bright interpretive panels teaching our great visitors all about the fantastic life of the Southern Corroboree Frog.

Have you heard about another critically endangered species of frog found in Victoria called the Spotted Tree Frog? This amazing frog lives in the central highlands of Victoria to the Snowy Mountains in NSW. The Spotted Tree Frog lives in small sections of rocky streams where the males call during the spring and summer, while sitting on boulders or overhanging vegetation. Over the next few months you will be hearing me talk more and more about these frogs. I'll be taking part in population monitoring field work with these frogs, and I'll be sure to keep you all updated on what we find. Cross all your fingers and toes that we find lots of these endangered species.

The Southern Corroboree Frog tadpoles that we bred last year are all continuing to eat and keep growing. They are currently all around 1.5-2.5 cms long. Our tadpoles at Healesville are all also doing well, and when they start to metamorphose they will come back down into the new complex, specifically for them.

That's about it for now, until next time

Raelene

August 2010

Hi there frog lovers!

Another couple of months have passed, but things are full steam ahead for all of us here at the zoo.

The Southern Corroboree Frog was successful again this year as I wrote in my last blog.  Since we found the 235 eggs we have managed to hatch out 32 tadpoles here at Melbourne Zoo! Due to a current lack of holding space we have also sent another 22 eggs to Healesville Sanctuary for hatching. In total, this means we should have around 50 or so tadpoles. Again, the most we have had to date.

Corroboree Frog Identification
We recently had to photograph the juvenile Southern Corroboree Frogs that are on display in the viewing window in the World of Frogs. These photographs are specifically for identification purposes. We photograph the top (dorsal) and the bottom (ventral) patterns on each animal. A frogs pattern is like a human fingerprint, every one is different. This is how we identify each animal. You can see the difference between two animals in the photos here on my blog. We will also need to re-photograph them in a couple of years time as there patterns can start to change and vary.

Apart from the Southern Corroboree Frog, no other frogs are currently breeding. We do have plans to put more Green Tree Frogs on display as our numbers are getting low. It will be great to have lots of big green frogs in there again. These frogs will be coming from displaced frogs that come down accidentally in bananas, plants and other produce shipments.

These frogs should never be let go as they are not from here and would not survive. It is also not a good idea to try and keep them as pets as you do need to have the right licenses and they need to be purchased from a reputable source. It is best to bring these frogs into the zoo where we can either quarantine them and use them for display or they get sent down to the Amphibian Research Centre where they get adopted out to people with correct licenses.

Until next time...

Raelene

(Green Tree Frog photo by Damian Goodall)

May 2010

I know it has been a couple of months, but here at the Zoo it has been such a busy few months with the birth of our beautiful baby elephant, Mali.

The Southern Corroboree Frog breeding season has just come to a close for another year and we managed to get 235 eggs from our 20 adults that we used for the breeding this year. This year was the most eggs that we have bred since we began in 2005/2006. About 50 of these eggs seem viable at this stage and with the new endangered amphibian room being built; they will have a new home in the next few months.

Seven juvenile Southern Corroboree Frogs are on display in the viewing window in the World of Frogs and these frogs are doing really well and growing fast. These were the frogs from last years breeding season.

The Endangered Amphibian Complex is currently being constructed and all of the refrigeration is currently being installed and set up. We are starting to design the shelving, tanks and the overall set up of the room. We hope to have frogs move into the room in the next few months.

For all you frog lovers out there, Friday April 30th was International Save the Frogs day. Visit www.savethefrogs.com to find out more how you can help frogs worldwide.

Take Care frog lovers!

Raelene

February 2010

I have some big news! You all will not believe me as you read this, but, yes, its true, the 5 years and 3 months old Stuttering Barred Frog is about to metamorphose! Over the last couple of weeks he has slowly been growing his limbs. Today, I have to take him out of his aquatic enclosure and put the new little frog in with its brothers and sisters. It's hard to believe that this day has finally come, but nevertheless, the new little frog is ready to join the rest of the collection as an important member of the Recovery Program for the endangered Stuttering Barred Frog.

The breeding season for the Southern Corroboree Frog has begun. All the adults that were placed into the fridge for a cold snap, were placed into their new furbished breeding enclosures. They have all started to eat (hatchling crickets are their favourite), and hopefully in 3-4 weeks we might start hearing the males call. You can listen to the call at www.frogsaustralia.net type in Southern Corroboree Frog and listen to the short pulse call.

The Southern Corroboree metamorphs are growing well. They are eating and putting on weight. They are now approx. 12.36mm and .28gms! Getting bigger by the day! Currently this is the longest that we have had metamorphs for. Fingers crossed that we can continue with this good fortune with the other tadpoles!

Frog advice for the month: Visit the Amphibian Ark website. It's www.amphibianark.org. This organisation was set up as a global initiative in 2008 Year of the Frog. They help fund and support amphibian projects all over the world. Jump (pun intended) online and check it out!

Raelene

Don't forget....

'It seems to me that if you wait until the frogs and toads
have croaked their last to take some action,
you've missed the point.' Kermit the Frog