The Amphibian Ark
We have all heard of the Biodiversity Crisis, but one of the things that particularly concerns me is the Amphibian Extinction Crisis. Yes, I know, just another picture of doom and gloom, but this one is particularly bad and can be fixed relatively easily.
According to the recent book by the Zoological Society of London, Evolution Lost 25% of all mammal species are threatened, 13% of bird species, 15% of fish species and 41% of amphibians.
So we really are looking at an extinction crisis – and one that is caused by a series of well known causes ……… habitat loss, pollution, pesticides, disease and climate change.
We thought we had it nailed in 2007 with a well-formulated Amphibian Conservation Action Plan and the recognition for a large, multifaceted, coordinated global response.
Funding shortages has made progress on this plan glacially slow though and successes have been few and far between.
On a more positive note, there has been development in getting zoos on board to help those species that are on the brink of extinction as part of The Amphibian Ark (AArk).
Now one hundred different types of threatened frogs have been placed in breeding programmes across the world. One of those frogs is our very own – the coin-sized Archey’s frog.
In 2001, when scientists noticed that a number of our 5000 or so Archey’s frogs were infected with the deadly chytrid fungus – a group were transferred to a captive facility at University of Canterbury to conduct disease research.
The programme has since been incorporated into the Auckland zoo native frog research facility and with the arrival of a reptile and amphibian breeding expert last month, Richard Gibson from the UK, there are great hopes that captive breeding of Archey’s frogs will bolster their numbers.
Gibson, who also works for the Amphibian Ark, has already had a hand in pushing several frog species back from the brink and he hopes to do the same with Archey’s.
One of the big questions that is hanging over him is gender composition of the 24 frogs living at Auckland Zoo. You see, it is very hard to tell male frogs from female frogs.
So that’s first on the list – find a way to determine their gender – something that will probably require genetic analyses. The second challenge is to create a controlled environment, so the team can alter all number of variables whether it be diet, social or seasonal variation in climate to determine which factors lead to good breeding outcomes.
Although Archey’s frogs have been kept in captivity since the late 1990s with limited breeding success, no-one has managed to successfully raise froglets. Typically the parents take a ‘fend for yourself’ attitude to parenting once the tiny froglets have hatched, so zoo-staff will need to figure out their culinary needs.
Gibson suspects the meal-sizes will have to be super-small given that most froglets are a mere 3-4mm in length. He is hopeful that he and his team can crack this particular conundrum by drawing on his 20 years of experience in captive rearing of frogs.
And although he is only three weeks into the job, he hopes that one day Auckland zoo can start up programmes for Hamilton’s and Hochstetter’s frogs too.
You see, the trouble is, our Archey’s frogs are just one of four native species that need help. More than a thousand species of frog, toad, newt, salamander and caecilian (weird worm-like amphibians) worldwide are still in need of captive breeding assistance to ensure their survival – however no one is willing to pay for this kind of care!
In June this year, I was appointed to the IUCN Amphibian Survival Alliance to coordinate a global response to the deadly chytrid fungus and other causes of amphibian declines, as well as raising awareness of this extinction crisis.
So for conservation week, I am going to pack my chilly bin with a select group of frogs (Hochstetters, Archey’s, Maud Island frogs) for a meet and greet with our Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson.
For the past 10 years, I’ve been the spokesperson for these speechless wonders, so one of the first questions I am going to ask her is – how are these creatures going to survive if our DOC is constantly under the knife?