Sir David’s magic touch gets frogs a ‘tad’ excited
Thursday 30 October 2008
He’s often thought of as a god in the natural world and a recent visit by Sir David Attenborough to ZSL London Zoo seemed to prove it!
© ZSL
After his visit to the Zoo’s Reptile House keepers were surprised to find some welcome new additions to one of the amphibian exhibits.
Eight mission golden-eyed tree frogs, which have been at the Zoo for nearly three years with no love action, mated during his visit and produced between 40 and 50 tadpoles – much to the delight of keepers.
Keepers had tried a number of different methods to encourage the frosty frogs to be friendlier- but nothing seemed to work. Although Sir David’s visit and the mating of the frogs is a surprising coincidence, keepers believe the frogs finally mated because of a humidifier in their new tank.
Ironically Sir David was there to host a conference about the threat of extinction to the world’s amphibians. The stripy frogs were placed in a new exhibit to coincide with the well-loved broadcaster’s visit and, after trying to breed them for three years, keepers were amazed that one look from Sir David seemed to get them in the mood.
George Sunter, a keeper in the Zoo’s Reptile House said: “It is really exciting that we have bred these frogs for the first time. It’s a great coincidence that we moved them to time in with Sir David’s visit – and that this seems to have moved the earth for them.”
