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©Gerardo Garcia

The mountain chicken is one of the largest frogs in the world. It’s the top native predator on its island home of Montserrat and Dominica. But it is also Critically Endangered.

First threatened by habitat loss, introduced predators and over-exploitation, it has been brought to the brink of extinction by the introduction of the fungal disease Chytridiomycosis onto both islands.

The Mountain Chicken Recovery Programme is a collaboration between European conservation institutions and the governments of Montserrat and Dominica to save this species from extinction.

May has definitely been the wettest month of the project so far. As we begin to move into the rainy season in Montserrat storms have been brewing, ghauts have been running and the frogs have moved to seek higher ground. It is believed that this behaviour is the result of a natural instinct to escape the monstrous volumes of water, mud and tumbling rocks that can destructively cascade down the ghauts following periods of intense rain in the hills (I know I … Continue reading →