Amphibians
Mountain Chicken Frog
Leptodactylus fallax · also called mountain chicken frog, giant ditch frog, crapaud
The mountain chicken is a frog the size of a small rabbit — one of the largest in the world — and its story is one of the bleakest in amphibian conservation. It was eaten to scarcity as a Caribbean delicacy, had half its range buried by a volcano, and then met the fungal disease that has swept the world’s amphibians. A few hundred are left, almost all on a single island.
Overview
The mountain chicken now survives effectively only on Dominica and Montserrat, in moist forest and ravines. Big females reach about 21 cm and nearly 1 kg, chestnut-brown and long-legged. It is a voracious ambush predator, lunging from a burrow mouth at night to take large insects, other frogs, small snakes, and crabs.
Named for its legs
The name refers to the taste of its meaty hind legs, likened to chicken. For generations it was the national dish of Dominica and was hunted heavily across the Lesser Antilles.
A burrow nursery
The male digs a chamber and calls; the pair make a foam nest inside it; and the female returns repeatedly to feed the tadpoles with thousands of unfertilised eggs while the male guards the burrow.
Volcano, then fungus
The long eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat from 1995 buried much of the frog’s habitat there. Then chytridiomycosis reached Dominica around 2002 and Montserrat around 2009, causing crashes of over 85 percent within months.
Status
The mountain chicken is Critically Endangered, with a wild population in the low hundreds or fewer. It depends on captive assurance colonies in European zoos, and on release trials, fungus-clearing treatments, and warmed refuges on Montserrat, none of which yet add up to a self-sustaining wild population.
Mountain Chicken Frog: common questions
Why is it called the mountain chicken?
The name has nothing to do with birds. It refers to the frog's large, muscular hind legs, which were traditionally eaten and were said to taste like chicken. The mountain chicken was a prized food animal across parts of the Lesser Antilles for centuries and became the national dish of Dominica, where it appeared on the coat of arms and on menus. That long history of being hunted for the table is one of the reasons the species was already reduced and vulnerable before disease and a volcano finished the job.
How did the mountain chicken become Critically Endangered?
Three blows in sequence. First, centuries of hunting for food removed adults from a slow-breeding animal and eliminated it from several islands. Second, the eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat, beginning in 1995 and continuing for years, buried much of the frog's habitat there under ash and pyroclastic flows. Third, and most devastating, the fungal disease chytridiomycosis arrived, hitting Dominica around 2002 and Montserrat around 2009 and causing population collapses of over 85 percent in a matter of months. The combination has left only a few hundred frogs in the wild.
How does the mountain chicken raise its young?
Without a pond. The male excavates an underground chamber and calls from its entrance. When a female arrives, the pair beats a fluid into a stiff foam nest inside the burrow and she lays her eggs in it. The tadpoles develop within the foam, and because there is no water and no algae to eat, the mother returns to the burrow again and again over several weeks to lay batches of unfertilised eggs that the tadpoles feed on, while the male guards the entrance against predators. A single brood can consume many thousands of these feeder eggs before the froglets emerge.
Can the mountain chicken be saved?
It is being attempted, but the outlook is difficult. Captive assurance colonies in European zoos hold the genetic safety net and breed the frogs successfully. On Montserrat, conservationists have released captive-bred frogs into the wild and have experimented with catching wild frogs, clearing them of the fungus with antifungal baths, and returning them, as well as trialling warmed refuge areas where the temperature-sensitive fungus does less harm. None of this yet adds up to a self-sustaining wild population, because the fungus persists in the environment, so the species remains dependent on active human intervention.