Conservationists are racing to save Ghana's slippery frog

DW (English)

DW went into the forest with the people working to bring the Atewa Slippery Frog back from the brink of extinction — only 200 of this unique species remain. Can this unique species survive?

Transcript

00:01These men are searching for a creature that hardly anyone has ever seen.

00:06They are conservationists and they are about to get lucky.

00:15This is a tadpole of the Attua slippery frog.

00:18The species lives only here in southern Ghana and is almost extinct.

00:23The Attua forest is actually officially protected.

00:27The government has taught plans to extract bauxite ore,

00:31but illegal mining continues to pollute the water systems.

00:35So the sediments from the illegal mining usually get into the water bodies,

00:41I mean these streams, and then it endangers the habitat of these frogs.

00:46So they end up, you know, we end up losing them.

00:49And it's become quite a menace.

00:53And this is our little way of saving

00:57and providing an assurance population for the species.

01:02Named for their smooth skin,

01:04it's thought just 200 Attua slippery frogs still remain in the wild.

01:09Their native habitat is limited to Attua forest,

01:12which is under increasing pressure from encroachment, pollution,

01:16and human-induced climate change.

01:19Around 250 kilometers from Attua forest lies the Government Research Institute .

01:26It is here that the team from the NGO Herb Conservation in Ghana

01:31have carefully brought coolers with the precious tadpoles that they caught in the river.

01:36They will be raised under controlled conditions in the lab

01:40in an attempt to bring back the Attua slippery frog population from the brain.

01:45We have about 22 tadpoles in these tanks,

01:55which we are breeding to successfully be able to have up to 400 slippery frogs in the next five years,

02:08and release them back into their natural habitats when the threats of the frog has been dealt with.

02:18While some people are breeding rare frogs to save them, others are hunting them.

02:23We have come to the Nabogu River, in one of Ghana's poorest regions, with almost 40% unemployment.

02:31Communities here used to live from fishing, but fishing stocks have collapsed.

02:37Now frogs are keeping families alive.

02:40This particular species isn't endangered yet.

02:48We hunt frogs because we don't have jobs.

02:52We know that numbers are declining, but we have no other option.

02:55It's how we feed our families.

02:57I come here to catch frogs, and I go home and sell them.

03:01It's how I provide.

03:03I have two kids and a wife.

03:08Herb Conservation Ghana is working to make communities aware of the vital roles frog plays in keeping ecosystems in balance.

03:17Here, in the eastern village of Abba Timbik Bajame, frogs also used to be a delicacy.

03:22Today, the region has declared roughly 200 square kilometers a protected zone, with no hunting or farming.

03:30When you love to do something, and people come to say, this thing is found only in your community, let's try and protect it, it's difficult.

03:43It's like you loving your chicken, and they say, stop eating chicken.

03:48It's difficult.

03:49So for people to give up their delicacy, something they love most, that was where the difficulty was.

03:58But like you see now, they're all happy they gave their lands up.

04:02They're happy that they took that step.

04:05You know, in the past, all animals that live in our rivers were eatable, including the frogs, the crabs, and other animals.

04:22And so, that was why we were consuming them.

04:27But when this project came down, and we got to know that we can protect them for future eventualities, we stopped.

04:38The community has learned to make a living from protecting the forest.

04:42Thousands of visitors come each year to experience the canopy walk, and the rare Togo slippery frog.

04:49This endangered species is genetically distinct from other frogs, and needs pristine, fast-flowing streams to survive.

04:59I think it's interesting to see them, because even if I knew beforehand that frogs are important in our biodiversity system,

05:07I don't know exactly what's their role in it.

05:11Scientists say the slippery frog genus has evolved separately from other frogs for the last 70 million years.

05:19The breeding program is a glimmer of hope they can survive.

05:23We do captive breeding if we think the animals are not able to breed well in their natural environment.

05:29So, if that is what they found, then captive breeding will solve the problem to some extent.

05:36But, it might not be the ultimate solution.

05:41It has its advantage of increasing the numbers in the world, but how do you really increase them into the world?

05:50Can they survive the environment in the world if they are not used to the world?

05:55Because you breed them in human race conditions.

05:58So, the conservationists will keep searching for stockpoles, and performing their invaluable lab work.

06:04And hopefully, more of the frogs' natural habitats will again be able to strive untouched.

06:10And finally, we will give them all the time and see how they work with these paths.

06:11So, we can take a while again.

06:12It will also be able to around.

06:13We will continue to our next video.

06:14And finally, we will continue to jump to the newENS.

06:16Thank you so much.

06:17If you are looking forward to the next video.

06:18I will leave a few hours on the next video to the other one.

06:20I'd like to invite you to do a bit of the program by...

06:23Do you like to ask me too many customers?

06:24To avoid the best how you do your first horse?

06:25And finally, before that, we are flying over the last day.

06:29As you can see, so many people will take care of the air in the water.

06:30It will take care of the air.

06:31If you come to the fan, you can…

06:32And I'll give a few more often.

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