Mountain chicken frogs arrive in Montserrat from Sweden
3 October 2025
The mountain chicken frog, found exclusively on the Caribbean islands of Dominica and Montserrat, is one of the largest frogs in the world, reaching lengths of up to 20cm.
On 5 August 2025, 24 mountain chicken frogs began their journey around the globe from Norden’s Ark in Sweden to Montserrat to join the Mountain Chicken Recovery Programmes’ (MCRP) captive population on the island, where the frogs live in a unique predator-proof semi-wild enclosure designed to reduce infection risk from a deadly fungal disease.
The mountain chicken frog population was decimated by chytridiomycosis, also known as chytrid, a disease that has devastated amphibian populations worldwide. In 2019, the MCRP reintroduced a group of mountain chicken frogs to Montserrat from safety net populations in European zoos. This achieved a world first success in reintroducing a species driven to local extinction by chytrid infection and demonstrated the possibility of treating and preventing infection of amphibians vulnerable to its effects in-situ.
The semi-wild enclosures manipulate environmental conditions to protect the frogs from the fungus. The enclosures contain basking sites and heated water pools, ensuring temperatures remain high enough to create an environment that is uninhabitable for the chytrid fungus, which cannot survive temperatures above 30°C. This reduces the risk of infection and allows infected frogs to be treated.
This recent move, which was led by Durrell, Norden’s Ark, Department of Environment & Montserrat National Trust, with support from the wider MCRP partners, introduced a greater range of genetics and younger breeding frogs to the population in Montserrat, with the intention of pursuing successful breeding in-country. The facility has now been adapted to support breeding, with nesting sites in the enclosures upgraded following recommendations and training from Norden’s Ark, now equipped with cameras to allow better monitoring of the frogs.
The new additions and upgrades will allow further advances of the breeding programme while also continuing our scientific data collection on chytridiomycosis. Dominica’s Forestry, Wildlife and Parks Division joined the effort in support of their sister island, with sponsorship from the Zoological Society of London, as both countries work towards collaborating in the conservation of their shared island endemic.
It is hoped that the combination of disease mitigation and scientific husbandry practices will facilitate both countries in managing and securing populations of this unique amphibian for many generations to come.
Photos by Spectrum7Studios
The Mountain Chicken Recovery Programme represents a collaboration of the governments of Montserrat & Dominica, local stakeholders, and international zoological institutes working in support of securing both populations in the wild. Special thanks to all parties; the Government of Montserrat’s Department of Environment, Government of Dominica’s Foresty, Wildlife and Parks Division, Montserrat National Trust, WildDominique, Nordens Ark, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Zoological Society of London, Chester Zoo, Re:Wild, Fauna & Flora & Riga Zoo.