Baw Baw Frog
Baw Baw Frogs only occur on a restricted section of the Baw Baw plateau in Victoria.
Baw baw frog. Mixed rainforest and the Baw Baw Frog Mixed rainforest mixed forest around Mt Baw Baw is the habitat of the highly endangered Baw Baw frog. The frog has a very restricted distribution and is confined to an area of only 10 square kilometres in Victorias Central Highlands. Its main diet consists of small vertebrates particularly earthworms.
The Baw Baw frog Philoria frosti is confined to an area of 135 km 2 of the Mt Baw Baw plateau in Victoria Australia Hollis 2004 and is restricted to protected montane gully habitat between 1000 m and 1300 m. Victorias most restricted frog the Baw Baw frog is only found at high altitudes on the Mount Baw Baw Plateau in eastern Victoria. The Victorian Alps remain largely intact and protected in National Parks but climate change is a threat to species that can survive only in alpine habitats.
Some are at risk of extinction such as the Baw Baw Frog Alpine Water Skink Mountain Pygmy-possum and Stirling Stonefly. They are a cryptic species finding natural soil cavities underground from which to call and lay their translucent eggs in a foam nest. Local threatened species All estimates point to extinction in the wild for the Baw Baw Frog in just five to 10 years.
The Baw Baw Frog has a special place in our hearts. Inhabiting a restricted and fragile environment this frog is threatened by development and intense use of the Baw Baw Plateau for recreational and forestry activities. Their bodies can easily adapt to the extremely cold climate of the Baw Baw Plateau an unusual characteristic for amphibians.
Zoos Victoria CEO Dr Jenny Gray takes us behind the scenes to the Baw Baw Bunker at Melbourne Zoo to see how our amphibian specialists are working to save the critically endangered Baw Baw Frog. Its breeding season is between the months of September and December laying as many as 180. Baw Baw Frogs can only be found in Melbourne Australia.
It has the smallest distribution of any Victorian frog. The adults are dark brown with lighter patches around the head. After carefully choosing a male the female makes a foam nest underground for their eggs.
The total extent of occurrence of the species is about 135 km 2. Ms Johnson said the Baw Baw frog was only found in a small alpine pocket on Mount Baw Baw but its numbers had declined by 98 per cent in the past decade due to habitat loss climate change and a chytrid fungus. The wild population has declined by more than 98 since the late 1 980s.
Unlike most other frog species developing Baw Baw Frog tadpoles may not swim or feed. The Baw Baw Frog Philoria frosti is a smallish brown frog endemic to the Baw Baw Plateau and escarpment area in the Central Highlands of Victoria about 120 km east of Melbourne. On the cool slopes of Mount Baw Baw lives a small brown frog whos call is becoming quieterKnown as the Baw Baw Frog numbers of this endemic Victorian s.
It lives and feeds amongst leaf litter and muddy earth on the Mount Baw Baw. Animals from Victorian alps. It was named in 2014 as amphibian specialists successfully found the baw baw frog egg mass in the wild in both 2013 2014.
November 18th is National Baw Baw Frog day. However she said the zoo had a captive breeding program and had successfully released frogs back into the wild. This secretive frog generally lives and feeds underground which posed a significant problem for conservationists - how do you identify threats and monitor a frog thats so difficult to find.
Their skin has many bumps and ridges including a large paratoid gland that runs from eye to shoulder. Endemic to the Mt Baw Baw plateau in the Central Highlands of Victoria the Baw Baw Frog burrows in moist mud and leaf litter along gully streams feeding on worms and other invertebrates. So much so that weve built two specialised frog-breeding bunkers at Melbourne Zoo to ensure the surviva.
The Baw Baw Frog Philoria frosti a mottled brown-black native of Mount Baw Baw is listed under the IUCN red list as critically endangered. The Baw Baw frog is a tiny amphibian that only lives on the Baw Baw plateau in eastern Victoria. Were taking you beyond the Mega Zoo TV show so you can hear about some of the most critically endangered species Zoos Victoria and its partners are.
There are also many other outstanding nature conservation values of Mt Baw Baw which are in a detailed report published by the Central Highlands Alliance.
