Elusive giant burrowing frog in world-first captive breeding program at Melbourne zoo
Researchers have collected tadpoles of one of Victoria’s rarest amphibians after being hampered by years of drought

Wed 31 Mar 2021

Scientists from the Arthur Rylah Institute have been been searching for the frog for years, but were hampered by the last decade’s drought.


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That changed after recent higher than average rainfall across Gippsland. Zoos Victoria scientists joined researchers from the institute to locate and collect tadpoles from a remote area in the state’s east.

Deon Gilbert, a threatened species biologist at Zoos Victoria, said the frog was an “incredibly rare and cryptic species”.

“To find a viable breeding site with tadpoles in it felt like winning the lottery,” he said.

The tadpoles were transported to Melbourne zoo, where the species will be held and bred in captivity for the first time. Gilbert said the captive frogs provided an insurance population at a time when populations in the wild were down to critical levels.

“The wild populations are so low and suffer from multiple threats. On top of droughts, there’s climate change, land clearing, logging, disease and introduction of feral predators,” he said.