About 50 endangered native Archeys frogs from Te Kuiti are to be given a powhiri at Canterbury University tomorrow morning.
The frogs, which are being accompanied by three Waikato kaumatua and a Department of Conservation (DOC) officer, are being moved to Christchurch to try to find out why they are dying
from a fungus.
Scientists believe whatever is affecting the frogs could eventually affect humans.
The frogs were being collected today from the Whareorino Forest near Te Kuiti by DOC workers.
They will be released into a special frog facility on campus where they will be studied for signs of disease in a joint effort by the university and DOC.
Dr Bruce Waldman, of the university's zoology department, will lead the investigation.
He said that over the past six months dead native frogs had been found in forests on the Coromandel and near Te Kuiti.
"To find dead frogs is in itself pretty shocking, because they usually decay very rapidly or are quickly consumed by predators. Finding carcasses suggests quite a number are dying."
Dr Waldman said it was important to protect New Zealand's native frogs because of their archaic lineage.
"They are very similar to frogs that lived 200 million years ago. They are like living fossils," Dr Waldman said.
Archeys frogs are small and do not croak like other frogs, but make a little squeak or chirp. They are one of New Zealand's three endangered frogs.
They are considered to be a bio-indicator and are vertebrates, like humans.
"If something is impacting on frogs then it's likely to eventually impact on us as well.
"Frogs are robust creatures, so if they are being killed by this fungus, this suggests their immune system is being challenged by herbicides, pesticides, pollutants, higher UV levels and other environmental stresses, increasing their susceptibility to pathogens.
"The same can be said of humans... it will just take longer before we show the impacts."
- NZPA
nzherald.co.nz/environment
