Auckland Zoo First Succesful Rearing of Archey's Frog

zooboy28

zooboy28

Well-Known Member
Seven Archey's Frogs hatched in December at Auckland Zoo, and are continuing to thrive. Auckland Zoo holds the only captive population of this critically endangered species, and its breeding is a significant achievement.

Story here: Archey's Frogs Breed At Auckland Zoo - science | Stuff.co.nz

Zookeepers at Auckland Zoo are claiming a massive and internationally important victory after a critically endangered Archey's frog successfully bred from a long-term captive population.

Seven Archey's frog babies that hatched at the zoo in December from fertile eggs laid in October are continuing to thrive, keepers said. Auckland Zoo is the only facility in the world to hold the frogs.

While Archey's frogs have been bred twice before elsewhere in captivity, the babies did not survive.

"It's a massive step forward to finally breed these enigmatic and extremely sensitive little frogs after almost eight years," Auckland Zoo NZ Fauna curator, Richard Gibson, said.

International experts agreed the breeding of Archey's frogs is a huge achievement.

Kevin Zippel, programme director of the Amphibian Ark - a world body focused on the global survival of amphibians - said: "Conserving any species usually requires a whole range of actions and captive breeding is increasingly a requirement for many threatened amphibians. Auckland Zoo's recent success with Archey's frog is exciting news and represents an important breakthrough".

Professor Jonathan Baillie from the Zoological Society of London said "breeding one of the most primitive and threatened species on the planet is an amazing achievement and a major breakthrough for conservation".

Archey's frogs, like New Zealand's other three endemic frog species, don't have a tadpole stage that other members of the species have. Instead, the Archey's tadpole grows limbs inside the egg, and then hatches out as an almost fully formed frog.

The seven baby frogs, each just a half a centimetre long, have absorbed their yolk sacs and progressed to a diet of tiny invertebrates, keepers said.

While not currently on display, visitors to Auckland Zoo will soon be able to see adult Archey's frogs in the zoo's night forest habitat within its New Zealand precinct, Te Wao Nui.
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The last bit is quite exciting too, this will be the first time the species has been displayed (properly) at the zoo, and may be the first time any of the four endemic frog species have been displayed in a manner that may actually allow visitors to see them (i.e. in a reverse-lit exhibit, as they are a nocturnal species).
 
Longer article, and photos of the hatchlings, on Auckland Zoo's website: Auckland Zoo - Big leap forward in breeding of rare frog There is also a link on that page to a Radio NZ interview with NZ Fauna Curator Richard Gibson.

For the first time, New Zealand's critically endangered Archey's frog - the world's most evolutionarily distinct amphibian - has been successfully bred from a long-term captive population at Auckland Zoo.

Seven Archey's frog babies that hatched at the Zoo in early December from fertile eggs laid in October, are continuing to thrive. Over 50 million years old and described as "living fossils", Archey's frogs, like New Zealand's other three endemic frog species, don't have a tadpole stage like other frogs. Instead, the Archey's 'tadpole' grows rudimentary limbs inside the egg, and then hatches out as an almost fully formed frog. The seven baby frogs, each just a half a centimetre long, have absorbed their yolk sacs and progressed to a diet of tiny invertebrates.

While Archey's frogs have been bred twice before elsewhere in captivity, the babies - from adult frogs that had not long been collected from the wild - did not survive.

"It's a massive step forward to finally breed these enigmatic and extremely sensitive little frogs after almost eight years," says Auckland Zoo NZ Fauna curator, Richard Gibson.

"While a slow process, perfecting husbandry and furthering our understanding of Archey's reproductive biology is all part of developing a skill set that provides the best possible chance of conserving this frog in the wild - where it's battling the combined threats of habitat disturbance, introduced predators, disease and climate change," says Mr Gibson.

International experts agree the breeding of Archey's frogs is a huge achievement.

Kevin Zippel, programme director of the Amphibian Ark (AArk) - a world body focussed on the global survival of amphibians using captive breeding for species that can't be safeguarded in nature, says: "Conserving any species usually requires a whole range of actions and captive breeding is increasingly a requirement for many threatened amphibians. Auckland Zoo's recent success with Archey's frog is exciting news and represents an important breakthrough".

Professor Jonathan Baillie, Director of Conservation Programmes at the Zoological Society and London and the driving force behind the EDGE of Existence - a programme set up to highlight and conserve one-of-a-kind species on the verge of extinction, says "breeding one of the most primitive and threatened species on the planet is an amazing achievement and a major breakthrough for conservation". "It will help to ensure the future of the world's most 'Evolutionarily Distinct & Globally Endangered' (EDGE) amphibian and its truly fascinating parenting practices," says Professor Baillie.

Auckland Zoo is the only facility in the world to hold Archey's frogs, which it does with the blessing of Hauraki whanui iwi and Marokopa-Kiritihere iwi.

While not currently on display, visitors to Auckland Zoo will soon be able to see adult Archey's frogs in the Zoo's Night Forest habitat within its New Zealand precinct, Te Wao Nui.

Frog facts

Archey's frog (Leipelma archeyi)
•Archey's frog is the smallest of New Zealand's four endemic frog species, with adult females growing to a maximum of 37mm.
•In the wild, Archey's frog is only found in Coromandel and in the Whareorino Forest, west of Te Kuiti - in misty, moist conditions above 400m altitude
•The IUCN Red List classifies Archey's frog as "Critically Endangered"
•On the list of the top 100 EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct & Globally Endangered) amphibians, Archey's frog is Number One. Visit EDGE of Existence :: Evolutionarily Distinct & Globally Endangered
•Archey's frog is almost indistinguishable from the fossilised remains of frogs that lived 150 million years ago - hence it being described as "a living fossil"
•Special characteristics: Archey's frogs, like New Zealand's three other endemic frog species (Hochstetter's Hamilton's and Maud Island), have some quite bizarre features. They have no external eardrum, and have round (not slit) pupils. They do not croak, but instead can let off a high-pitched screech when stressed. They also do not have a traditional tadpole stage. Instead, the embryo develops inside the egg. The Archey's 'tadpole' grows rudimentary limbs inside the egg and then hatches out as an almost fully formed frog. The adult male then carries his young offspring around on his back.
•Archey's frog has tail-wagging muscles - although it no longer has a tail to wag.
•Auckland Zoo is home to a population of 23 adult Archey's frogs and seven baby frogs.
•Along with a breeding programme for Archey's frogs, Auckland Zoo also assists the Department of Conservation (DOC) with annual surveys and census of Archey's frogs in Whareorino Forest.
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I saw this on the news this morning but didn't have time to post anything. Very good news, both in terms of the breeding and the upcoming display.


While Archey's frogs have been bred twice before elsewhere in captivity, the babies did not survive.
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I think at least one of those breedings might be from frogs I collected on the Coromandel back in 1995, but I can't really remember if it was that lot that bred or another group.
 
Chlidonias said:
I think at least one of those breedings might be from frogs I collected on the Coromandel back in 1995, but I can't really remember if it was that lot that bred or another group.
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Thats pretty cool. Were they very difficult to find? Were the frogs collected for DOC? Where were they kept after capture?
 
It looks like Auckland Zoo has also acquired some wild frogs in the last year. Last year's census shows the zoo holding 3.4.15 (22), while they currently hold 6.17.10 (33), which suggests they got at least 4 wild frogs (plus the 7 hatchlings).
 
zooboy28 said:
Thats pretty cool. Were they very difficult to find? Were the frogs collected for DOC? Where were they kept after capture?
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it was for the university. I actually can't remember if they were bred there after all, or if my memory is faulty. Anyway, we were collecting both Archey's and Hochstetter's to set up some colonies. Pretty easy to find (but probably not nowadays).
 
Chlidonias said:
it was for the university. I actually can't remember if they were bred there after all, or if my memory is faulty. Anyway, we were collecting both Archey's and Hochstetter's to set up some colonies. Pretty easy to find (but probably not nowadays).
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Probably not, no :(

Still very cool, I've never seen a native frog, and I probably won't anytime soon either.
 
I take it these frogs don't produce eggs in the thousands then?

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
I take it these frogs don't produce eggs in the thousands then?
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no, just a few. They lay the eggs on land and the male guards them, and then carries the froglets around on his back (the entire tadpole stage takes place within the egg, so they hatch out as miniature frogs).

Hochstetter's frog lays its eggs in burrows, and they hatch out as non-feeding tadpoles which metamorphose shortly afterwards (I can't remember the details off the top of my head though).
 
Forest & Bird Blog about the breeding of Archey's Frogs: Forest & Bird Blog Archive Breeding breakthrough for critically endangered frog

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:28 am – Posted by Mandy | No Comments
Blogger: Forest & Bird's Communications Officer, Mandy Herrick

Frogs typically make good captive breeders, so the fact that for eight years experts couldn’t successfully raise one froglet from our Archey’s frog was proving mind-bogglingly frustrating.

Enter Richard Gibson – an English reptile and amphibian breeding expert with over 20 years of experience.

He flew here in late 2011 to take up a position as the Team leader of Reptiles and Invertebrates at Auckland Zoo, and one of the defining challenges of that role was to get this tiny 50 million year old frog to breed successfully.

After touchdown he immediately began tweaking husbandry methods in the hope of producing froglets from this critically endangered frog, and in December last year seven froglets were hatched (our frogs don’t have a free-swimming tadpole stage).

Three months on and the biggest challenge is providing these minute frogs with enough midget-sized meals of new-born slaters and springtails to provide them with sustenance. And to ensure the frogs diet is top-notch they feed these midget creatures a special formula!

Unfortunately the parents of these froglets are unknown because the frogs had an unscheduled love-fest before keepers could separate the 24 frogs into pairs. Gibson describes it as an ‘amphibian Roman-style orgy’. Legs, arms, more legs – and eggs. You get the picture.

So although the keepers are delighted about the arrival of these little wonders, they’re scratching their heads as to which ones are the successful breeders. Despite this, they’re pretty chuffed at the results, which Gibson puts down to two elements: diet and environment.

Frogs as a rule live a pretty inactive lifestyle and zoo-life proved especially easy, so many of the frogs had grown over-weight which may have affected fertility.. So by slimming them down, drying them out a little and creating some seasonal variation in their environment, the essential ingredients were in place, and voila!

These pea-sized frogs are taking up a mere 1% of space in their special breeding facility, so there’s room for plenty more frogs. However, it’s only once a second generation of Archey’s are born that Gibson will consider that the husbandry is truly cracked and breeding Archey’s frog is a done-deal.

In the meantime he is considering the possibility of working with threatened Hochstetter’s and endangered Hamilton’s and Maud island frogs to help understand their biology and master their husbandry too.

Richard says at this stage, learning about the Archey’s frog diet, habits and specific environmental requirements is a priority. And with this knowledge they’ll be in a better position to undertake large-scale conservation-breeding programme should things deteriorate further in the wild. For now though, staff at Auckland Zoo are busy finessing a special enclosure and selecting the frogs, for a new display in Tae Wao Nui’s Night Forest – the first ever for this little known jewel of the New Zealand forests.
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Just as a slightly amusing and totally unnecessary aside, Richard Gibson is also the name of the actor who played the original Herr Otto Flick of the Gestapo in the classic BBC comedy 'Allo 'Allo. The only connection between Herr Flick and frogs is that he made a truth serum from the Self-inflating Peruvian Marsh Frog in one memorable episode, which had the unfortunate side-effect of causing inflation of certain body parts of those who took the serum.
 
Zoo celebrates big leap forward for frogs
29 February 2016

Auckland Zoo is celebrating a big leap forward in the breeding and rearing of New Zealand's rare and unique Archey's frog, the world's most evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered amphibian.

Three Archey's frogs which metamorphosed successfully in December 2013 continue to thrive under the care of the Zoo's Ectotherms team. A further seven froglets resulting from fertile eggs laid in October 2015 (each now just half a centimetre long) are also going strong. These breeding successes, the first of their kind, have boosted the Zoo's Archey's frog population to 25.

"It's especially exciting and enormously satisfying to have celebrated the recent second birthday of the three older frogs," says the Zoo's curator of Ectotherms and Birds, Richard Gibson.

"Auckland Zoo enjoys the great privilege of holding the only captive population of Archey's frog in the world.

"It's taken years to perfect the conditions necessary to achieve increasingly consistent breeding with these incredibly cryptic and sensitive animals, but through this work we're gaining a greater understanding of the biology of the species, which will better equip us to help save Archey's frogs in the wild," says Richard.

Key to successful breeding has been the ability to mimic the Archey's frog's natural environment of the cool, damp, high altitude forests of Coromandel and Whareorino, and also to simulate dad's role as carer of the eggs, tadpoles and young froglets.

Chilled pipes run through the soil in the frog enclosures to keep the ground cold and the Ectotherms team manipulate temperatures to make ambient conditions hotter and dryer in summer and cooler and wetter in winter.

Says Richard: "We artificially incubate and rear any eggs not cared for by their dad, irrigating them with water that dad's been bathed in to ensure any important skin secretions are reaching the eggs. Once hatched, the tadpoles are placed on damp paper towels in the shape of dad's back, where they stay until metamorphose into froglets."

Along with breeding Archey's frogs, the Ectotherms team regularly assists Department of Conservation (DOC) staff with monitoring wild populations and planning conservation actions. In April, to progress efforts to conserve these 'living fossils’, the Zoo team and DOC colleagues will be collecting 80 Archey's frogs from the Whareorino forest, the largest and best-studied population, which benefits from intensive mammalian predator control activities, including a recent 1080 aerial drop.

"We will health-screen and sex these frogs (using chemical analysis of their urine) at the Zoo and hold them here over winter. Come spring, 60 of the frogs will be released into a fenced part of Pureora forest to reinforce a small reintroduced population there.

"The remaining 20 will stay here at the Zoo to diversify our captive population and further develop best-practice husbandry," says Richard.​​
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There's a video on that link as well.
 
That is fantastic news, great that they are breeding, and getting a further 20 individuals. Hopefully the population to be introduced to Pureora establishes.

They are on display in The Night exhibit at Te Wao Nui (or at least there is an enclosure for them), but it is so dark that they are more or less impossible to see.
 
Great hear breeding success has continued.

Exciting news on reintroduction project and additional frogs for the captive-breeding and rearing program!
 
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