Hello everyone -- welcome to Melbourne Zoo’s Frog Blog!

My name is Raelene and I’m lucky enough to be working at Melbourne Zoo.  I’ve been here for three years, working in the Herpetofauna Department, specialising in frogs.

Did you know that 2008 is the International Year of the Frog?  So this year the world’s zoos are working extra hard to spread the word that frogs are in danger around the world, and that includes right here in our own backyards. Frogs are disappearing so fast that we need to do something now, or they might be gone forever!  I cannot imagine a world without frogs- Can you?

But the good news is that there are things we can do to help.  YES, YOU TOO!!!!

The September school holidays are coming up, and here at the zoo we are focusing on FROGS! We will be taking part in frog story time, frog keeper and meet a frog talks, and all you frog lovers will need to come to help find Little Laurie. Confused? You will have to come and visit any of Zoos Victoria three great properties over the school holidays to find out!

September 2008

Here comes Spring, arguably the best time of the year for frogs!

As the weather starts to warm up you may here frogs locally start to call in your local wetlands, backyard ponds and even here on the grounds at the zoo. Get out there and look for some of your local frogs. As soon as we have a nice, sunny day followed by some rain, head down to your local wetland and listen out for the males croaking away.

Since my last blog there has been some growth for the Southern Corroboree Frog tadpoles. The three remaining eggs have hatched leaving 7 happy tadpoles. Now, all 7 of them have started to develop their back legs. Four of these are also starting to develop the black and yellow patterns on their backs. Plans are now being put into place for next years breeding of this species.

The big Stuttering Barred tadpole still has not grown any legs…..3 years, 11 months as a tadpole and still counting... I think we have almost made it into the record books for the longest living tadpole! Next month this tadpole will have its 4th birthday!

We have also had our Japanese Fire Bellied Newts lay eggs. These are currently off display and will continue to develop over the next few months.

In Australia we call frogs “frogs”, but what do other countries call them?
- Poland “Zaba”
- South Africa “Padda”
- Sweden “Groda”
- Turkey “Kurbaga”
- Kenya “Chura”
- Japan “Kaeru”
- Germany “Frosch”
- Hungary “Beka”

How many of them can you pronounce?

Hopefully some of you have had the chance to come in visit us at the World of Frogs, and if not, we hope to see you soon! I also hope that some of you have had the chance to help in some way for International Year of the Frog.

Don’t forget….

'It seems to me that if you wait until the frogs and toads
have croaked their last to take some action,
you've missed the point.' Kermit the Frog

Happy Croaking
Raelene