Corroboree Frogs

Names & Nicknames: Corroboree frogs, Corroboree toadlets

Size: Sometimes the smallest packages can pack the most powerful punch. That is certainly the case for these little fellows. Despite producing a potentially lethal toxin, they are about as long as your fingertip and weigh less than a piece of paper. That’s just the Southern Corroboree frog, the Northern Corroboree frog tends to be even smaller.

Smell: When stressed, Corroboree frogs have a musty, earth-like smell, a scent that some non-toxic frogs are suggested to mimic, perhaps to try and fool predators that they are toxic as well!

Communication: Like many of their froggy cousins, male Corroboree frogs call to attract a mate. However, their calls are said to sound a bit more like a squelch than a traditional ribbit.

Favourite Hangout: Corroboree frogs like the high life – they tend to be found 1000m above sea level or more. They live in bogs and grasslands in the picturesque Australian Alps in Southeast Australia.

Favourite Snack: Adult corroboree frogs munch on a range of crunchy insects and invertebrates, but their favourite snack is little black ants that are abundant in their boggy and woodland homes. Yummy!

Eating Habits: Corroboree tadpoles prefer the veggie life, munching on algae and other small pieces of organic matter. When they're all grown up, they prefer a crunchier diet, feasting on ants, beetles, mites, larvae, and other small invertebrates.

Love Language: At the start of the breeding season, a male corroboree frog will build a nest using his hind legs to sculpt a moss chamber near a water source. Once his love nest is established, he puts on the charm, using his alluring squelchy call to bring in the ladies. His charm is so effective he will often attract multiple females one after another for some lovemaking.

If you see them: Well you must have pretty good eyes, despite their neon yellow stripes it can be hard to spot a frog as small as your fingertip in a bog, especially as there are potentially less than 50 of them left in the wild and they are active mainly at night.

Red Flags: These little gems are unfortunately faced with a variety of threats. From the construction of ski resorts digging up their habitat to invasive species such as feral pigs trampling and ripping up their bogs, these little critters don't have it easy. As with amphibians all around the world such as Harlequin Toads, one of the most pressing threats to Corroboree frogs is the dreaded chytrid fungus. The chytrid fungus causes chytridiomycosis, a deadly disease that clogs up the skin of an amphibian, stopping them breathing, controlling the body temperature, and potentially killing them. Nasty stuff.

Epic Journeys: Both species will journey from their non-breeding grounds to their breeding grounds for the start of the lovemaking season. Not much detail is known about the Southern Corroboree frog's exact movements, but as this breeding journey in the Northern Corroboree frog is only up to 300 metres, it's unlikely the Southern Corroboree frog is moving much further. But hey! That is a long way when you are the length of a fingertip!

Glow-up: Shout out to all the dads out there. It's the males who put in the shift when it comes to raising their young children in the Corroboree world. After mating (details in the love language section), a female will lay a clutch of eggs (no more than about 40, which is pretty low for a frog) in his love nest, which the male will then guard as the female hops off. He may have multiple broods of eggs in his nest, sometimes having to build a second nest for any egg overspill if he is especially handsome! He will protect them for 6-8 weeks until the nest floods with fall rains and the tadpoles are ready to hatch and start their journey towards adulthood.

Facts: Corroboree frogs, as their bright colours suggest, are very very poisonous. But what makes them different from other poisonous froggies, is that whereas other frogs get toxic chemicals from the food they eat to make their poison, corroboree frogs make it completely on their own. In fact, they are the first vertebrates discovered to be able to produce their own poisonous alkaloid!

Who are they in the friendship group: Super cute but a little toxic.