Meet the Southern corroboree frog
The southern corroboree frog is only about the length of a thumbnail, but its glossy black and bright yellow stripes make it one of Australia's most recognisable frogs. That colour warns predators that its skin is toxic.
In 2002, US researchers found that Pseudophryne frogs make their own toxic alkaloids, called pseudophrynamines, rather than getting them from their food. It was the first documented case of a vertebrate producing its own alkaloid poisons.
Males build nest chambers in moss at the edge of bog pools in summer and call to attract females, sometimes up to ten in sequence. Eggs develop in the nest and hatch when autumn rains or snowmelt flood it, and the tadpoles then grow slowly through the cold months.
Chytrid fungus caused the species to collapse from the 1970s on, and fewer than 50 adults may remain in the wild outside managed sites. Since 2006, Taronga Zoo, Zoos Victoria and NSW National Parks have bred the frogs in captivity and released eggs into chytrid-free fenced enclosures in Kosciuszko, including 1,450 eggs in June 2026, the largest release so far.
Where it lives
Found only in the high country of Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, above about 1,300 m. It breeds in sub-alpine sphagnum moss bogs and spends the rest of the year in nearby heath and woodland.