23 C
Montserrat
Friday, March 29, 2024
The last year for the project has been, to say the least, a rather intense one! We've been gradually moving from strength to strength; the creation of a SAFE haven against chytrid, the return of mountain chickens to Montserrat, our first nests (10 of them), and now on international volunteers day I'd like to introduce you to our newest...
I must admit I feel as though I have been remiss; I've been in Montserrat working on the Mountain Chicken Recovery Programme for a month now and haven't yet taken the time to tell you about myself, my experiences and my role on the project. This will be the first in a series of several introductions to current members of...
On Friday the 13th September 2013 Dominica hosted the first Annual Mountain Chicken Day.   This event was designed to help create awareness about the plight of the Mountain Chicken Frog (Leptodactylus Fallax) also known in Dominica as the Crapaud. The event was free so that all the public could attend and there were numerous planned activities throughout the day.   The day...
Hello! It’s Rachel here, the new volunteer on the project and I’m here to give you all a quick update on what’s been going on lately. It’s been all change in the mountain chickens’ enclosure over the last few weeks and a lot of new tech has been added. As you might have read in one of the previous blogs,...

Mountain Chicken Mugshots

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  It’s that time of year again- countless people are setting their new year’s resolutions to start hitting the gym and shed the excess pounds they gained over Christmas. Our mountain chickens on the other hand have a whole other agenda- to gain as much weight as possible! So, don’t be disheartened if your new regime isn’t going to plan-...
With January comes the start of Chytrid fungus disease monitoring season for the team!  It's a delight really it is! Throughout this period we conduct monthly night surveys at field sites all across Montserrat; catching and swabbing a minimum of 60 treefrogs at each site for signs of the disease, this in-turn gives us a good idea of the...
A collaborative effort to save the mountain chicken frog has been in effect between the islands of Montserrat and Dominica for many years, but our partnership was recently strengthened when Montserratian primary field assistant ‘Blacka’ came to share his fieldwork skills and experience with the team in Dominica. We decided to concentrate our search efforts in places that were previously...
One of my earliest memories as a child is that of sitting watching Italian wall lizards basking in the sun at my Grandparents house in northern Italy, how the the sunlight glinted off their scales like little gems and how they would dart for shelter at the slightest sign of a threat.  Looking back on it now those moments...
To celebrate mountain chicken day on the 13th September our partners hosted a myriad of events and activities to engage, excite and educate the general public in everything weird and wonderfully mountain chicken.  They touched on topics from the mountain chickens unusual physiology and behaviours, right through to the challenges they have faced with exposure to deadly amphibian chytrid...
In a previous post you saw the process we went through to mark out the mountain chicken release site and construct our trial ponds.  This update explores the next step, increasing the temperature of the environment! One thing we must do before we can successfully reintroduce the mountain chicken back to Montserrat, is to find a way in which we...