Spotted Tree Frog (Litoria spenceri)
In Kosciuszko National Park, Australia, a captive breeding program has been successful beyond scientists expectations. The Spotted Tree Frog population crashed in 1998, which scientists believe was caused by the chytrid fungus outbreak mentioned in a previous post. Nearly 20% of the frogs released last year, have survived, suprising scientists who said "we'd have been very happy with 5% survivorship."
Captive breeding and release programs have been tried many times before with limited success. The reason for the success of this particular program is not well understood, but scientists hope that captive breeding and reintroduction may be a means to save many frogs from extinction in the near future.
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