Endangered Frogs Born In London Zoo After Rescue From Deadly Fungus

London Zoo is celebrating the birth of 33 Darwin’s frogs, following the zoo’s urgent mission to rescue the critically endangered species from the brink of extinction

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An adult and a young Darwin’s frogs, a species that is critically endangered due to the deadly chytrid fungi. This species is now thriving in a specially built room at London Zoo that mimics their natural habitat. (Copyright: Benjamin Tapley, image courtesy of London Zoo)

A wonderful event has conservation biologists at the London Zoo celebrating: the critically endangered amphibian, southern Darwin’s frogs, Rhinoderma darwinii, had babies shortly after arriving at the zoo after being rescued from their rainforest home in Chile. These tiny frogs are especially susceptible to infection by the deadly chytrid fungi, which were introduced into their native habitat and are rapidly pushing their wild population to extinction.

To rescue these frogs, conservation biologists launched a 7,000-mile rescue mission in October 2024. They visited a remote island off the coast of Chile to collect the endangered frogs and relocate them to the zoo for captive breeding, whilst scientists work on how to make their rainforest home safe again.

“Getting the frogs here at London Zoo was incredibly exciting for me, personally — although I’d grown up all my life loving frogs and seeing pictures of the iconic Darwin’s frog, I’d never actually seen them myself in-person,” conservation biologist Ben Tapley told me in email. Dr Tapley is Curator…