Endangered frogs go home to Montserrat

TRINITY, Jersey, May 3 (UPI) -- A critically endangered frog species reintroduced to the Caribbean island of Montserrat is surviving in its new home, British conservationists say.

The "mountain chicken" frogs had declined by as much as 80 percent in the wild, struck by a fatal fungal disease affecting amphibians globally.

Captive-bred frogs are doing well three months after their release, Britain's Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust reported.

Leptodactylus fallax are one of the world's largest frog species, with females weighing almost two pounds.

"Due to their size they have very large meaty thighs which they use to leap long distances," Sarah-Louise Smith, project coordinator for the Mountain Chicken Recovery Program, told the BBC.

It was those meaty thighs that gave them their curious name, she said.

"Locally their meat is a delicacy, apparently they taste like chicken," Smith said. "In the past [it] was served in many restaurants and hotels to locals and tourists that visited the island."

Thirty-three healthy frogs from the Durrell trust's captive breeding program on Jersey in Britain's Channel Islands were released onto Montserrat in January and researchers have been tracking their movements since then.

"Three months later the fact that we still have live frogs in the release site looking healthy and calling is a very encouraging sign," Smith said.