Guest presenter: Deon Gilbert, Zoos Victoria

Zoos Victoria is fighting to protect many threatened Australian fauna species, such as the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, the Southern Giant Burrowing Frog and the critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeater, Victoria’s bird emblem.

In particular, the Baw Baw Frog Philoria frosti is at risk of extinction in the wild in just the next decade or so. The population’s huge decline on the Baw Baw Plateau is mainly attributed to the fungal disease Chytridiomycosis, but impacts from climate change and habitat destruction have also contributed.

Zoos Victoria’s amphibian specialists have over recent years contributed to the first successful breeding program to supplement wild populations. Our speaker, Deon Gilbert, is a key member of this group; he is a threatened species biologist – Herpetofauna with Zoos Victoria and has spent more than a decade studying the Baw Baw Frog and working on its reintroduction to sites on the plateau.

Deon’s talk promises to give us a valuable update on this significant species which has long been of particular interest to many club members.

Image credit: Zoos Victoria