The Unique and Endangered Mountain Chicken Frog

The mountain chicken frog is a truly unique and fascinating creature. Despite its name, the mountain chicken is actually a large frog, not a chicken This unusual frog is native to the Caribbean islands of Dominica and Montserrat Unfortunately, the mountain chicken is also critically endangered and could face extinction without dedicated conservation efforts.

An Unusual Name for an Unusual Frog

There are a few ideas about how this frog got its name, which isn’t very helpful. One reason is that early settlers thought the frog’s meat tasted like chicken, which is how it got its name “edible.” Some people also think the name comes from the frog’s “chicken-like” sounds. Another idea is that frogs care for their young in burrows underground, like mother hens do.

The mountain chicken frog is not at all like a chicken, no matter where its name comes from. Up to 2 feet long, this frog is one of the biggest in the world. 2 pounds and 8 inches long. The female frogs are larger than males. These hefty amphibians have plump bodies and muscular hind legs. Their coloring ranges from brown to orange or yellow. They also have unique skin that is folded from their heads to their behinds.

Habits and Habitats

The mountain chicken frog lives in humid forests, river valleys, and agricultural areas on its Caribbean islands. These frogs are primarily active at night. During the day, they take cover in burrows dug into moist soil. They can camouflage themselves well in their environments.

These frogs are patient hunters with big stomachs. They eat a lot of different things, like bugs, spiders, snails, smaller frogs, snakes, and even bats. Mountain chickens will grab any animal that fits in their big mouths. Because they are so big, they can catch bigger prey than most frogs.

Breeding and Raising Young Underground

Mountain chickens have a very unusual breeding strategy. They don’t lay their eggs in water like most frogs do; instead, they dig foam nests underground for their eggs and young.

Breeding starts in the rainy season around April. Males compete for ideal nesting spots and emit loud whooping calls to attract females. Once a pair forms, the male and female work together to whip up a thick foam nest in a burrow around 20 inches deep.

After the female lays her eggs, she provides thousands of unfertilized eggs for the hatched tadpoles to eat. The female continues caring for the tadpoles underground as they develop into froglets. It takes around 45 days for the froglets to fully metamorphose and emerge. This unique underground development allows the mountain chicken frogs to breed away from water sources.

Conservation Status and Threats

Sadly, the remarkable mountain chicken frog is now critically endangered. Its population has declined over 80% since the 1990s. Several major threats contributed to this drastic drop.

• Hunting: These frogs were heavily hunted for food, especially on Dominica where they were considered a delicacy. Annual harvests took thousands of frogs.

• Habitat loss: Agricultural and urban development destroyed much of the frog’s habitat.

• Natural disasters: Volcanic eruptions wiped out populations on Montserrat. Hurricanes damaged habitats on both islands.

• Disease: The fungal disease chytridiomycosis began devastating the frogs in the 2000s and was the primary cause of recent population crashes.

Without dedicated conservation, the mountain chicken frog could follow many other Caribbean amphibians into extinction. There are now likely less than 200 individuals left on Dominica and possibly none in the wild on Montserrat.

Conservation Efforts Underway

There are active efforts to save the mountain chicken frog from vanishing completely. A coalition of zoos has established a healthy captive population as an “insurance” against extinction. Hundreds of frogs are being carefully bred in zoos across Europe, the UK, and the US.

Some captive-bred mountain chickens have been reintroduced to protected enclosures on Montserrat. Scientists closely monitor these frogs to study their survival and resistance to the chytrid fungus plaguing wild populations.

Public education campaigns on Dominica and Montserrat aim to stop illegal poaching of the frogs. Habitat restoration projects create safer environments for existing frog populations. Researchers continue seeking solutions for managing the fungal disease driving declines.

This unique frog has survived volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, disease, and overhunting over the centuries. With robust conservation measures, hopefully the mountain chicken can persist well into the future. Protecting and restoring habitats will allow this endangered species to thrive once again.

The average lifespan of a mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) is 12 years.