GRENADA TREE FROG LAYS EGGS
AT THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY ZOO

MARKS FIRST BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY

 

The Milwaukee County is proud to announce a female Grenada tree frog, one of 10 brought back in 2005 from the field, has laid eggs. This is the first time that Grenada tree frogs have bred in captivity anywhere in the world.

Milwaukee County Zoo reptile and aquarium curator, Craig Berg, has traveled to Grenada, Panama and St. Vincent Island to save this species from chytrid, a deadly fungal infection. Chytrid is threatening extinction for nearly every amphibian species it meets by attacking the frog’s skin. Frogs “breathe” by absorbing oxygen through their skins. Chytrid blocks this process by causing the skin to thicken and become impervious to oxygen and carbon dioxide. Without anti-fungal treatments, frogs suffocate.

While in the field in Panama, Berg and his colleagues captured wild frogs and caught tiny insects to feed them. They disinfected aquariums and treated sick frogs with 10 days of 10-minute anti-fungal medicine soaks. Berg even baby-sat the 150 recuperating frogs in two rooms of a hotel undergoing renovation.

Berg brought 10 Grenadan tree frogs back to the zoo in 2005 to study how they reproduce in captivity. In the event chytrid moved to Grenada, Berg and his colleagues wanted to be ready to quickly start a breeding program for the island’s frogs. This particular frog at the Milwaukee County Zoo laid eggs in September 2006. “This frog can only be seen in Grenada and in the 10-sqaure-foot area in the basement of the zoo’s aquatic and reptile center,” says Berg.

 

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