Rescue Mission for Mysterious Victorian Frog

The Giant Burrowing Frog (Heleioporos australiacus) is a large frog, chocolate brown above and white beneath, with
scattered yellow spots. It has never previously been held and bred in captivity, and remains one of Victoria's most cryptic
frogs. Records of the Giant Burrowing Frog are scarce in Victoria, with the species' known habitat limited to remote parts of
Central and East Gippsland. Other, potentially genetically distinct, populations are found in southern New South Wales.

To secure the Giant Burrowing Frog’s future, the conservation program hopes to conserve healthy populations of the
species in the wild, and captive populations are a key element of that strategy.

This month, Zoos Victoria scientists joined Arthur Rylah Institute threatened species scientists leading the wild conservation
program to collect tadpoles from wild habitats in a remote part of East Gippsland. These tadpoles were transported to
Melbourne Zoo and are the founders of the first-ever captive conservation program for the Giant Burrowing Frog. The
research team's initial goals are to study how the tadpoles grow into adult frogs and to build skills for a future breeding
program.

Much of the range of the Giant Burrowing Frog was devastated by the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires. But researchers
working in the field have found evidence of limited and highly localised egg laying prompted by recent higher-than average
rainfall across Gippsland. Zoos Victoria Threatened Species Biologist Deon Gilbert says this has given researchers a rare
opportunity to jump-start their conservation program.

"This species breeds in shallow pools and, unfortunately, the pools can dry out really quickly depending on the weather.
This year, unlike many others, we have had a lot of rain in early spring and summer, and that has produced really good
conditions for Giant Burrowing Frogs, so we were lucky enough to find some tadpoles and that's what has instigated this
program," Mr Gilbert said.

"It’s incredibly exciting to work with an amphibian we know so little about. The first goal of the program is just to figure out
what makes this species tick. We know almost nothing about its wild ecology or its captive biology. So we need to figure out
how to grow them, rear them and produce really fit frogs. And then those frogs will go on to start a conservation breeding
program.

While the future of the Giant Burrowing Frog, like many other frog species, is likely threatened by the devastating chytrid
fungus, wild populations of the Giant Burrowing Frog are also under pressure from habitat loss caused by land clearing,
logging , climate change, increasingly frequent and severe bushfires, as well as feral cats and foxes. "Unfortunately for this
species the threats are pretty numerous," Mr Gilbert said. "It's always been incredibly rare and now, given the threats it
faces, even more so."

Melbourne's Zoo's amphibian team has already had great success breeding two other rare frog species, the critically
endangered Baw Baw Frog and Southern Corroboree Frogs. Late last year, a group of adult Baw Baw Frogs was released at
the species' wild home on Mt Baw Baw for the first time. The Melbourne Zoo team has also bred Corroboree Frog eggs for
wild release for several years.

The Giant Burrowing Frog project has been supported by generous donations to the Zoos Victoria Bushfire Emergency Wildlife Fund.