Fifty-Three Southern Giant Burrowing Frogs Returned to the Wild in Victoria

Fifty-three southern giant burrowing frogs, raised from tadpoles rescued after the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, have been returned to their native habitat in a remote area of eastern Victoria, The Guardian reported.

The species is considered critically endangered in Victoria. Adults grow to roughly the size of a cricket ball, and the animals are rarely seen in the wild. After the fires, about 160 tadpoles were collected in East Gippsland and taken to Melbourne Zoo. Collection had been hampered by years of drought, according to a 2021 Guardian report on the zoo's captive breeding program, which was set up that year.

The tadpoles were raised through metamorphosis, the change from tadpole to adult frog, at the zoo. They were then bred in captivity for the first time. The 53 frogs now being released are about five years old and all male.

Before release, each frog was tagged. Song meters, devices that record sound so that calls can be picked up, were installed at the release sites. The sites had received 80 to 100mm of rain from thunderstorms in the weeks before the release.

Zoos Victoria has moved the frog to priority status in its 2019-24 Wildlife Conservation Master Plan, a decision based on recent data from the wild. Only five breeding sites of the species are known in Victoria.