During the breeding season, students on adventure holidays Australia are likely to spot rival male tusked frogs fighting over breeding grounds. As they battle for territory, the males bite each other around the neck, using their tusks as weapons of war. When the battle is over, the winner will mate and the female then lays hundreds of eggs in a floating foam nest of her own creation. Usually you’ll see this floating nest in a creek or pond.
Although each adult female can lay up to 1000 eggs in a year, this fascinating amphibian’s numbers have been steadily decreasing over the last 50 years. It is not clear why this is happening, though some causes may be: inappropriate catchment management, degraded water quality in creeks and rivers, diseases and pathogens like fungus and viruses
habitat modification (e.g. vegetation clearing, invasive weeds). Their range has been decreasing over the last 50 years a lot faster than the population itself. This has resulted in a smaller range but higher population density within the range itself.
