How you can help save Australia's frogs
Australia’s frogs need your help.
The Australian Museum is calling all Aussies to help take part in the first national frog count, to help save the threatened species.
FrogID is an app that can identify a frog’s species by the sounds it makes - croaks and chirps, to whistles and barks.
Recording and uploading these calls will map frog species across Australia and reveal where they are at risk of habitat loss, disease, climate change and urbanisation.
Australian Museum Director and CEO, Kim McKay AO, said FrogID is a national citizen science rescue mission that everyone can take part in.
“The power to save Australia’s frogs is now in the palm of your hand, whether you’re a family in your garden or on a bushwalk, at school or a grey nomad. Everyone can download the free FrogID app to help save these vulnerable species – the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ of climate change,” Ms McKay said.
“FrogID is a crowd-sourcing approach to conservation. The AM is proud in its 190th year to partner with IBM, the Australian Government and leading museums across the country on this ground-breaking union of citizen science and innovative technology.”
One of Australia’s leading frog experts, Dr Jodi Rowley, AM Curator of Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, said FrogID will help conserve our 240 native frog species and their habitats.
“Frogs are a tipping point in the environment. The loss of frogs is also likely to have huge pest management implications for our agricultural production and wellbeing, as they help control insect populations, such as mosquitoes. If they disappear, entire ecosystems may be at risk,” Dr Rowley said.
“FrogID will allow us to make informed conservation decisions aimed at saving our frogs. But we need the public to play their part, so we can understand our many frog species across this vast country. By taking part in FrogID, you’re actively helping to save Australia’s frogs – you might even discover a new species.”
Find out more at www.frogid.net.au.
