If you’re following our story of Rewilding the Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis) at Winton Wetlands, we are proud to say the project is well underway!

An essential aspect of this project has been to determine the presence or absence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis – the fungus that causes the detrimental Chytridiomycosis disease in amphibian populations.

Over the course of 18 months, fifty frogs from six different species have been ethically swabbed at Winton Wetlands in order to collect information on the incidence of this fungus. Peron’s Tree Frog (Litoria peronii), Spotted Marsh Frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis), Eastern Banjo Frog (Limnodynastes dumerili), Eastern Sign-bearing Froglet (Crinia parinsignifera), Common Eastern Froglet (Crinia signifera) and the Sudell’s Frog (Neobatrachus sudellae) were all located in a range of areas across at the reserve.

Our team was excited to see the complete collection of swabs travel to cesar laboratories at Melbourne University today to undergo DNA analysis which will provide a clear picture of the status of the Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus.

The next component of the project commencing immediately is habitat assessment, and in combination with the DNA results, will help with selecting an appropriate source population of Growling Grass Frogs suitable to Winton Wetlands.

The team at Winton Wetlands would like to thank the Wettenhall Environmental Trust for their support of the Rewilding the Growling Grass Frog project and all the fantastic volunteers who have assisted so far.

Stay tuned for future updates on this exciting species reintroduction!