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Taronga Conservation Society Australia Herpetofauna Supervisor Michael McFadden said the insurance populations were vital for the long-term survival of the frogs.
“By producing large numbers of offspring at Taronga, and working closely with the Saving our Species program to re-establish them in the wild, we will hopefully move in a positive direction towards recovering these species,” he said.
Taronga’s Michael McFadden in the frog shed at the zoo. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
McFadden said he hopes the program will create a sustainable and naturally reproducing population, and that it will also provide more understanding and better control over the threats corroboree frogs face.
“Hopefully, this program will save these populations,” he said.
The breeding facility is just one of five locations across the country breeding these frogs, with each one fitted with breeding tanks, tadpole-rearing tanks and shelving to house hundreds of juvenile frogs.
The teams will also release eggs, which will provide better information for reintroduction techniques, and is a lot less resource-intensive than growing frogs to full maturity.
After 2019, when bushfires tore through much of the frog’s habitats, the Booroolong frogs were added to the program. More than 650 have since been released to re-establish the population.
As part of the zoo and NSW government’s Saving our Species program, round semi-enclosed pens in the Kosciuszko National Park keep the southern corroboree frogs safe from predators. Credit: James Brickwood
NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment Penny Sharpe said the breeding program was crucial for the survival of some of the state’s most threatened species.
“They might be tiny, but these frogs represent a bright future for the survival and recovery of these
species,” she said.
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