The Mountain Chicken Frog Leptodactylus fallax Saving a Traditional Dish

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http://youtube.com/watch?v=KwBb-gUiGUw

Matthias Goetz, head of the Erpethology Department at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey, explains the story of the Mountain Chicken Frog (Leptodactylus fallax). • The Mountain Chicken frog is one of the world’s largest and rarest frogs that exists. • A total of 51 Leptodactylus fallax, known as mountain chicken frogs because they reportedly taste like chicken and make a clucking-like noise, were released on the Jersey-sized island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory. • In 2009, conservationists rescued a population of the critically endangered frogs from the island to avoid them being wiped out by a chytrid fungus which has devastated amphibian numbers worldwide. The mountain chicken frog population has also dwindled due to people eating them – the species is the national dish in nearby Dominica. • Following a breeding programme with the rescued frogs by London Zoo and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which produced 76 frogs from just two females, 51 frogs in July were put in custom-built shipping containers, flown to Antigua and then by a smaller plane to Montserrat. On arrival at their remote forest home on the volcanically active island, they were kept in tents for several days to avoid being stressed by their new environment, before being released into the wild. [A. Vaughan, The Guardian, 12 Sep 2014] • More info about the project: https://www.durrell.org/wildlife/spec... • 🐸 • Subscribe to our channel NATURADOC: • / naturadoc • 🎶 • Music by Doug Maxwell: • Caribbean Steel Drum Happiness

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