WHAT IS CHYTRID?

Globally, at least 200 species of frogs have either declined catastrophically or been wiped off the face of the earth by chytridiomycosis.

In Australia alone, the fungus has brought about the decline of at least 43 of the country’s 200 frog species.

Seven Aussie species are now thought extinct, including the sharp-snouted day frog (Taudactylus acutirostris), a stylish brown miniature with a racing stripe down its side, whose last remaining population, hiding out in the upland rainforests of North Queensland, disappeared in 1993.

Combined with the impacts of climate change, urban expansion and the introduction of the invasive cane toad, Australia’s frogs face an existential threat.