Fighting Extinction: Zoos Victoria's Commitment to Endangered Herpetofauna

摘要

Since European settlement, Australia has a worse extinction record than any other nation on Earth. In addition, Australia has the highest number of threatened reptile and amphibian species in the world. In response to the serious threats posed to indigenous herpetofauna, Zoos Victoria (ZV) has embarked on a series of conservation campaigns to preserve some of the country's most endangered species. These include the Baw Baw frog (Philoria frosti), southern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree), northern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne pengilleyi), spotted tree frog (Litoria spenceri), stuttering frog (Mixophyes balbus), grassland earless dragon (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla), alpine she-oak skink (Cylodomorphus praealtus), and Guthega skink (Liopholis guthega). The aims of this article are to outline the main threats that have resulted in the decline of these species and the measures that ZV is undertaking in order to fight their extinction.