Johannesburg Zoo’s Amphibian Conservation Project in collaboration with Ezemvelo Kwa-Zulu Natal Wildlife and the Endangered Wildlife Trust has helped to create a sustainable insurance population of the endangered Pickersgill’s reed frog.
In 2006, the zoo noticed the dilemma facing this frog population listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species. The tiny frog measuring only 2.5cm in length only lives in KZN, mostly in the St Lucia area.
Curator of amphibians at the Johannesburg Zoo Ian du Plessis said, “We started with reproducing non-endangered species of frogs and then jumped into partnership with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife to collect Pickersgill’s reed frogs which were only found in 25 sites in KZN due to habitat loss.”
In September 2018, the team released 200 captive-bred Pickersgill’s reed frogs back into the wild.
Du Plessis explained that he wanted to create a sustainable insurance population of this endangered species and soon released more frogs into a rehabilitation site in northern Durban where they do not usually occur.
Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo also look forward to publishing a species-specific manual about this frog.
Johannesburg Zoo has created a captive environment that mimics the sites in which these frogs live where they can breed, while Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has been responsible for the in-situ work and Pretoria Zoo has assisted with genetic work and chytrid fungus testing work.
Du Plessis said that these frogs became endangered due to habitat loss because of industrialisation, pollution and expansion of housing in the areas they live in KZN. Climate change also brought about competition for food, which also reduced the population.
He added, “My advice to locals regarding frogs would be that they shouldn’t kill frogs. Frogs serve as an indicator species and help show if there is something wrong in the environment.
“They also eat mosquitoes. In the St Lucia area, they have played a role in keeping malaria under control.”
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