Photo of the week: Frog blog

New Zealand’s native species are the big winners at Whareorino Forest following a successful Battle for our Birds operation which resulted in rat numbers tumbling to very low numbers.

Our monitoring results following the pest control operation failed to find any rats, but found something else instead.

Whose footprints are these?

Our native Archey’s frogs were recorded through 7.5% of the rat tracking tunnels after the 1080 operation.

Archey’s frogs benefit from low rat numbers. The remains of Archey’s frogs have often been found in the stomachs of rats in Whareorino so a reduction of rat numbers mean the frogs are now a little safer in their native habitat.

Archey’s frog. Photo: James Reardon ©

Find out more about the native Archey’s frog on our website.