The GREEN Page

SOUTHERN CORROBOREE FROGS

This week in sustainability, students learnt about the corroboree frog that lives in Mount Kosciusko. These frogs have unique yellow and black markings. The word ‘Corroboree’  means a meeting or gathering. Aboriginal Australian would paint themselves to prepare for a sacred corroboree dance. That is how this frog got its name. The bright colours warn predators that it is poisonous. The corroboree frog grows to just 2.5 – 3 centimetres. 

They are on the endangered list because there are only thirty in the wild in the world and fifty left in their alpine habitat, the Kosciusko National Park. The southern corroboree frog is critically endangered because of amphibian chytrid fungus that attacks the skin, drought and habitat degradation. Habitat is lost to make way for ski resorts and roads which make the water frogs lay their eggs in dirty. To avoid extinction, zoos in Victoria have a program to breed these frogs in captivity and release their eggs back into the wild in protected ponds.