With national Frog Week commencing this Sunday, Orana Wildlife Park is delighted to announce it has gained approval to hold a captive population of Maud Island Frogs.

A state-of-the-art native frog habitat will be built at Orana Wildlife Park for the 'Nationally Endangered' Maud Island Frog. This will be the only facility of its type in the South Island. The Park recently gained approval from the Department of Conservation (DoC) to hold the animals.

In order to display native frogs, the Park submitted a formal proposal to the Native Frog Recovery Group. This involved significant consultation with Dr Phil Bishop (Otago University) the leading native frog researcher in New Zealand as well as DoC staff, iwi and other zoos. The Park has previously displayed all three introduced (Australian) frogs so native fauna keepers will go through intense husbandry training at Otago University before the native frogs arrive next year.

Head Keeper of Native Fauna, Tara Atkinson, is delighted: "Our project will support the aims of DoC's Native Frog Recovery Plan through advocacy, provision of an insurance population, research, refining husbandry techniques and hopefully breeding for release to the wild."

"One key objective will be to breed and rear Maud Island Frogs from eggs through to adults -this has not been achieved in a captive setting. Additionally, Maud Island Frogs are an analog species for the 'Nationally Critical' native Hamilton's Frog, which number less than 300! Breeding Maud Island Frogs will make a significant contribution to native frog conservation and may even enable Hamilton's Frog to be secured in captivity" says Tara.

New Zealand's four native frog species belong to the genus Leiopelma, an ancient and primitive group of frogs. The frogs are small, mostly nocturnal and well camouflaged. Maud Island Frogs number less than 30,000 and the species is restricted to a few island locations making the animals especially vulnerable to habitat destruction and predation. The Department of Conservation classify Maud Island Frogs as 'Nationally Endangered' and the World Conservation Union list them as 'Vulnerable'. Furthermore, Maud Island Frogs are rated 58 on the most Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) amphibians in the world!

The Park will construct a nocturnal display giving visitors the rare chance to see the animals; New Zealand's native frogs are normally difficult to view owing to their limited distribution, small size and superb camouflage. The exhibit will be a climate controlled research and breeding facility. Within the development, visitors will also be able to view other introduced frog species to enable visitors to study the differences between native and introduced frogs. "Our project will raise awareness of all four native frog species. Extensive interpretation will help educate visitors about the uniqueness of New Zealand's frogs. Information conveyed will outline the importance of habitat preservation, the need for controlling introduced predators and demonstrate the public's role in assisting conservation, especially by minimising their environmental impact and reporting sightings of the animals" adds Tara.

Worldwide, almost half of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction! This global amphibian crisis is the single largest mass extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs. In response, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Conservation Union declared 2008 Year of the Frog. Orana Wildlife Park was an active participant in this global campaign and helped to raise awareness on, and funds for, the amphibian conservation crisis. The Park is dedicated to making a long term contribution to amphibian conservation by holding Maud Island Frogs.

"Orana's project will be crucially important to raise awareness of a lesser known endangered native species, whilst assisting the Department of Conservation in preserving these precious native animals. We can't wait to work with these little treasures" concludes Tara.

Plans will be developed soon meaning construction will commence on the exhibit next year. It is anticipated that the project will take around ten months to complete.