Australian Yellow-Spotted Bell frog hops back to life
Presumed extinct for nearly 30 years, a colony of nearly 100 yellow-spotted bell frogs have been found in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales.
In 2008, a government researcher spotted the bell frog when he was searching for a native fish. The finding was later confirmed in 2009 by David Hunter, a threatened species officer of the Australian Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. The yellow-spotted bell frog has a distinctive call that sounds like a motorcycle, as well as clear characteristic markings on its groin and thighs.
The frog, once widespread, was thought to have been wiped out in the early 1970s after the chytrid fungus arrived from Africa. It is hoped the frog will have developed a resistance to the fungus. Following the discovery, six tadpoles were taken to Taronga Zoo NSW, home of the Conservation Society Australia, in order to set up a breeding programme.
The news of the bell frogs’ survival has been kept under wraps until now to enable appropriate conservation measures to be put in place in order to protect the frogs.
