Each year in the UK, the 5^th November marks Fireworks Night, an annual commemoration of Guy Fawkes’ failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Across the country tonight you can expect to see sparklers, blazing bonfires and spectacular fireworks. Of course, it’s not just us humans who enjoy a dazzling display. They might not be quite as explosive, but the natural world has some fantastic fireworks of its very own…..

Fountains of feathers

Male birds are some of the biggest show-offs in the animal kingdom, and their extravagant feathers can be the key to a female’s heart. We thought we would kick off our display with some of the most flamboyant, including the Atlantic royal flycatcher, the raggiana bird of paradise and an unusual albino Indian peafowl….

Fancy Flowers

For some explosions of colour, what better place to look than the world of plants? Our top picks are the pretty ribbon pincushion and the aptly named fire bush!

Underwater wonders

The marine world is full of incredible species, and the jewel anemone and purple sea urchin are certainly as beautiful as any firework. Lets hear an oooooh and an ahhhhh for the lovely lionfish too!

Pinwheels and rockets

No display would be complete without some spectacular rockets, and we don’t think they come much brighter than the golden rocket frog! For good measure we have thrown in an impressive pinwheel too, the Dlinza pinwheel to be precise!

A creature from the flames…

Most of us know to check our bonfires for hibernating hedgehogs before lighting them, but I bet not many of you have thought to look for salamanders before. It is believed that the common fire salamander is so-called as it often hides in damp logs, and would be forced to emerge when the wood was used in fires, giving the impression that it had crawled out of the flames!

Claire Lewis, ARKive Researcher

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Lemur leaf frog (Hylomantis lemur)

Species: Lemur leaf frog (Hylomantis lemur)

Status: Critically Endangered (CR)

Interesting Fact: The lemur leaf frog has a remarkable ability to change colour.

The lemur leaf frog has 24 hour camouflage protection. It is mostly bright green during the day, providing perfect camouflage while resting on the underside of leaves. At nightfall this frog becomes active, and the bright green darkens to brown, maintaining its camouflage.

Unusually for an amphibian, a reflective pigment in the skin enables the lemur leaf frog to bask in sunlight for long periods without drying out. This pigment keeps the frog cool while resting, and may also provide protection against the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, as the chytrid fungus is much less infectious at higher temperatures.

The lemur leaf frog is found in the rainforests of Costa Rica, Panama and northern Colombia. Despite the lemur leaf frog’s relative resistance to chytridiomycosis, the disease is still believed to be a major threat. Habitat destruction is another pressing threat to the lemur leaf frog. A number of zoos across the world are currently part of an effort to breed the lemur leaf frog outside of its natural range and away from the threat posed by chytridiomycosis.

Find out more about the lemur leaf frog on the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute website.

See images and read more about the lemur leaf frog on ARKive.

Lauren Pascoe, ARKive Researcher

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Conservationists had reason to celebrate this week as two highly threatened mountain chickens produced a massive brood of offspring.

The mountain chicken is one of the world’s most threatened frog species

A lucky escape

On its Caribbean island home of Montserrat, the strangely named mountain chicken faces a whole host of threats, from predation to volcanic activity. Yet the biggest threat of all comes in the form of the deadly chytrid fungus, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of amphibians and has led to the mountain chicken being considered one of the most threatened frog species in the world.

However, thanks to conservation efforts led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT), things are looking up for this intriguing amphibian. A few years ago, 50 mountain chickens were air-lifted from Montserrat in a desperate attempt to ensure a future for the species, and flown to Sweden, London and Jersey to be cared for and bred in captivity. It was hoped that this would produce a healthy population for future release into the wild.

This bold move has proved fruitful this week, as 2 of the female mountain chickens being housed at ZSL London Zoo have produced an incredible 76 tadpoles between them, massively boosting this species’ population.

“We’re absolutely chuffed to bits,” said Dr Ian Stephen, ZSL’s Curator of Herpetology.

Nest of mountain chicken tadpoles

The original challenge

This latest success for ZSL’s mountain chicken breeding programme is the culmination of years of hard work which have seen the rescue team face many difficult tests.

“The first challenge was getting them out of the Caribbean in to Europe safely,” said Dr Stephen. “Although the mountain chicken is one of the biggest frogs in the world they’re still a small animal so they’re incredibly sensitive to temperature fluctuations and that tends to be the thing that would kill a frog during transportation.”

To minimise stress on the frogs and to protect them on their long journey, the mountain chickens were transported in temperature-controlled boxes. Since their arrival in the UK, the 12 frogs have been housed in a specially designed bio-secure breeding unit, which includes temperature controlled rooms, automated spray systems and live food rearing areas. Keepers have to don full paper suits, masks and gloves in the facility, to ensure that no diseases can enter the enclosure and threaten the frogs.

The mountain chicken is one of the largest frogs in the world

Breeding difficulties

The arrival of the 76 tadpoles is an incredible accomplishment for the ZSL team, as the mountain chicken is notoriously difficult to keep in captivity, mainly due to its voracious appetite and unusual breeding behaviour. Female mountain chickens create a special foam nest in the ground, into which they lay their eggs. The females then produce unfertilised eggs, and regularly feed them to the tadpoles.

Dr Stephen hopes that the majority of the 76 tadpoles at ZSL will survive to adulthood, with a view to releasing them on Montserrat in an area which has not yet been touched by the chytrid fungus.

Chytridiomycosis, the disease caused by the chytrid fungus, is described by Dr Stephen as being incredibly serious: “It’s probably the first time where a disease is affecting an entire class of animals. It’s moving towards driving the extinction of most of the amphibian species across the globe.”

A ‘safety net’ population of mountain chickens will also be kept in captivity, in case the chytrid fungus causes any further devastating losses on the island.

Read more on this story at BBC – Frogs rescued from killer fungus have ‘massive’ brood.

Find out more about the mountain chicken on ARKive.

Learn more about amphibian conservation with Amphibian Ark and the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group.

Kathryn Pintus, ARKive Species Text Author

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Fifteen conservation groups have joined forces to save the Sierra Caral, an area of primary rainforest in Guatemala, in what is a remarkable conservation success story.

Morelet’s tree frog, one of the five Critically Endangered (CR) amphibians found in Sierra Caral

“The most important conservation area in Guatemala”

The new Sierra Caral Amphibian Reserve lies in the Guatemalan mountains on the border with Honduras, in a region that has been called the most important conservation area in Guatemala. The Sierra Caral is the single most biodiverse forest remnant in Caribbean Guatemala, and is home to an exceptionally large number of endemic amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates.

The Sierra Caral Amphibian Reserve supports five Critically Endangered (CR), five Endangered (EN), and two Vulnerable (VU) species of amphibian. Because the amphibian diversity of the Sierra Caral is so unique, it has also recently been listed as an Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) site.

Despite its obvious importance as a site of conservation priority, the Sierra Caral has been severely threatened in recent years by deforestation, illegal cross-border logging activities and expanding cattle ranching, which have rapidly fragmented the once continuous forest, placing it under enormous pressure.

The Critically Endangered (CR) brook frog is found in the Sierra Caral

Banding together

The bid to save the Sierra Caral was led by FUNDAECO, a Guatemalan conservation group, who were partnered by fifteen other conservation organisations including Global Wildlife Conservation, Conservation International and the World Land Trust-US. By pooling their resources and raising the money required to purchase the land, these conservation partners have now paved the way for the government to provide the area with some much needed legal protection.

“This major land purchase lifts the last hurdle for the Guatemalan government to declare the area a National Wildlife Sanctuary, something that local communities and conservationists have been desperately awaiting since 2000,” said Marco Cerezo, head of FUNDAECO, in a press release.

Preserving vital habitat

As well as being a haven for reptiles and amphibians, the Sierra Caral Amphibian Reserve also provides vital habitat for threatened bird species, including populations of the highland guan (Penelopina nigra), the great curassow (Crax rubra), and the keel-billed motmot (Electron carinatum), all of which are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

The forest is also an important stopping point along the migration route of hundreds of migratory bird species. In addition, the new reserve will play an important role in the ‘Jaguar Corridor Initiative‘, an initiative of the conservation organisation Panthera, which aims to preserve habitat for jaguars and other animals from Mexico to Argentina.

The Sierra Caral is home to many other threatened species, such as the great curassow

“This success story demonstrates how international alliances and local and national conservation leadership capacity can come together and protect unique species and habitats for future generations to enjoy,” said Claude Gascon, co-chair of the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group.

Read the full story on Mongabay.com – Herp paradise preserved in Guatemala

Find out more about some of the conservation organisations involved in preserving the Sierra Caral Amphibian Reserve:

• FUNDAECO
• Global Wildlife Conservation
• World land Trust-US
• Conservation International
• Amphibian Specialist Group
• International Conservation Fund of Canada
• American Bird Conservancy
• Nature and Culture International

Find out more about the Alliance for Zero Extinction

Explore more species found in Guatemala on ARKive

Helen Roddis, ARKive Species Text Author

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A newly-established population of mountain chickens appears to be alive and well, three months on from their reintroduction back into the wild. The news is an encouraging step in the right direction for the scientists working to ensure the survival of this Critically Endangered frog.

Disturbing declines

The curiously-named mountain chicken is a species of amphibian found only on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. In recent years, populations of the mountain chicken have declined by as much as 80% in the wild.

Several factors have been attributed to the mountain chicken’s alarming decline, including the apparent likeness of its taste to that of chicken, which has resulted in this species becoming a local delicacy and an attractive lure to local hunters. This species has also been affected by Montserrat’s active volcano, which erupted in 1995 and rendered parts of the island uninhabitable.

However, perhaps the most troubling threat to the mountain chicken is the presence of the fatal chytrid fungus on Montserrat. This devastating disease has already severely affected many amphibian species around the world.

Saving a species

After discovering the disease had spread to the island in 2009, researchers described the frog’s outlook as ‘desperate’, and hopes for its long-term survival looked fairly slim, with only two uninfected populations remaining.

In a bid to save the species, conservationists from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey and a number of other zoos in the UK and Sweden embarked on an emergency mission to airlift 50 surviving mountain chickens to safety.

Some of these frogs were relocated to Jersey, UK, where dedicated herpetologists worked to successfully breed the frogs in captivity and prepare them for reintroduction back into the wild.

A promising start

In January 2012, a population of 33 healthy mountain chickens were released back onto Montserrat. The frogs were all fitted with an electronic tag before their release, to help scientists track their movements more effectively.

Three months on from the frogs’ release, Sarah-Louise Smith, project co-ordinator for the Mountain Chicken Recovery Programme, says that “the fact that we still have live frogs in the release site looking healthy and calling is a very encouraging sign.”

“Some frogs will be found underground in burrows or at the bottom of ponds so we would never find them without this technique,” said Ms Smith, referring to the electronic tags. “When we find the frogs we collect data such as location, swabs of the skin to test for the chytrid and any signs they might be breeding.”

Although some of the released frogs have been infected by chytridiomycosis, the team say that this could in fact help them to better understand the problem facing the mountain chicken in its natural habitat.

Scientists are now hoping to listen for further signs that the frogs are surviving and potentially breeding by setting up microphones, nicknamed ‘frog loggers’, to listen out for their calls and monitor signs of survival in other parts of the island.

“Between April and September the males have a very distinctive ‘whooping’ call that echoes around the forest to attract females to their burrow, so we’re hoping to start hearing these calls as confirmation frogs are trying to breed,” says Ms Smith.

Hope for the future

Although the current signs are encouraging, Ms Smith says, “We still have a long way to go with our research and there is still a lot about the chytrid that we do not know, but there are many people local and international dedicated to the mountain chicken and working hard to make sure we are successful.”

The chytrid disease is known to currently affect over 500 species of amphibian worldwide, penetrating the skin and causing lesions which prevent sufficient oxygen entering the body, effectively suffocating them.

Read the full article on BBC Nature: ‘Chicken’ frogs survive in new home

Find out more about the mountain chicken on ARKive

Find out more about the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

Find out more about the Mountain Chicken Recovery Programme

Helen Roddis, ARKive Species Text Author

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