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!!!!

My Frog Blog is also going to keep you updated on all the froggy happenings in the World of Frogs here at Melbourne Zoo.

July/August 2008

Winter is here! This means that you will have to look extra hard for those frogs in the World of Frogs here at the Zoo.

Great news! Our Southern Corroboree Frog eggs have started to hatch! We have four tadpoles swimming around in the exhibit. They are all doing great and seem to be growing fast. These tadpoles should not start to grow into frogs for another few months, so I hope you all get a chance to see them. Once they get a little older they will to develop the black and yellow stripes on their backs. There are still 3 eggs waiting to hatch, fingers crossed...

Our Southern Bell Frog enclosure has had a face-lift. We have added lots of new rocks and plants, and the frogs and the water skink seem to be enjoying the new enclosure immensely. Be on the look out for some fish that will be moving into this enclosure over the next couple of months.

The big Stuttering Barred tadpole still has not grown any legs…..3 years, 10 months as a tadpole and still counting!

We have a little over nine months left of the official Year of the Frog! So lets make it count! Jump into the World of Frogs at Melbourne Zoo and learn about what you can do to help frogs!

Some “scary” frog facts for you:

· There are 5,743 amphibian species in the world
· One third of this number, (32%) are threatened! That’s 1,896 species!
· 163 species may be extinct, and 34 species are known to be extinct

This is a good time to keep in mind some very good advice from Kermit the Frog:

'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.'

Happy Croaking
Raelene