The Mountain Chicken Frog’s First Problem: It Tastes Like…
An ambitious reintroduction program aims to save this endangered, odd, gigantic frog.
BRADES, MontserratThere may be hope for the mountain chicken.
More than five years ago, dozens of Leptodactylus fallax frogs—a species nicknamed the “mountain chicken”—were airlifted out of Montserrat and away from the scourge of a deadly fungus. Now researchers are optimistic about the future of the critically endangered amphibian.
Found only on the islands of Montserrat and Dominica in the east Caribbean Sea, the mountain chicken was once a local delicacy. It is one of the largest frogs in the world and appears on the official seal of Dominica. And what does it taste like? You guessed it: chicken.
Years of overhunting and habitat loss, as well as volcanic eruptions in Montserrat, diminished the mountain chicken population, and the species has been declared
