We met up with a young trio of amphibian experts from the University of Santiago who are working to protect them, Ismael, Fernanda and Marta. Chile has an impressive 57 species and most are severely threatened. Habitat loss and ignorance of their importance has likewise further diminished their populations. A deadly Chytrid fungus has been decimating their numbers worldwide for a decade and continues unabated. The animals made a lot of noise, some people liked them, some not and others still thought the stream in which they lived was dirty and untidy, the locals were all in dispute about the situation, so the council decided to dredge the stream and ‘clean it up’.įrogs and toads are in deep trouble the world over. We all met somewhat surreptitiously in a café to hear the story from a group of locals including a journalist, and teacher, who told us about some huge frogs that inhabited a stream that flowed through the town. One day the ‘Frog Squad’ had an urgent request to visit the town of Villa Alemana northwest of Santiago, where a population of these giant frogs were endangered and we were asked to join them. The toads’ range in central Chile overlaps with the richest land, land now brimming over with orange and lemon groves, plantations of peaches and nectarines and hillsides of vines for the finest Chilean wines, all these grown for the insatiatiable demand from UK and North American supermarkets.
Nowadays the problem is even greater, one of habitat loss. In the past this huge toad has been captured for eating as a local delicacy and many others exported as part of the international animal trade.
Like all amphibians the world over the population of this animal has been declining at an alarming rate. It’s an amiable monster of an animal, with adult females measuring over 50cm. The Giant Chilean Toad, sometimes referred to as the Gay’s Frog is endemic to Chile.
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