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HILLCREST’S JEANNE TARRANT JUST WON THE PRESTIGIOUS WHITLEY AWARDS – A GIANT LEAP FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S AMPHIBIAN CONSERVATION, WRITES KATRINE ANKER-NILSSEN
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ince the 1980s amphibians have suffered global population declines, more than any other taxonomic group over the last few millennia. Currently 41% of the world’s frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians are at risk of extinction. In South Africa, 18% of amphibians are classified as Threatened or Data Deficient. Almost two-thirds of the country’s 135 frog species are found nowhere else, making South Africa a priority for the conservation of this overlooked group. Dr Jeanne Tarrant grew up in Underberg and attended Howick High and Rhodes University, before completing her MSc and PhD at North West University. “Following my PhD in 2012, I continued with a post-doctoral fellowship and at the same time joined the Endangered Wildlife Trust – starting the Threatened Amphibian Programme (TAP),” says Jeanne. “The first project I secured funding for was the Amathole Toad in the
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HOW CAN YOU HELP?
• Learn more about the frogs in your area. • Start appreciating the role of frogs in the environment.
• Attract frogs to your garden by
having indigenous plants and consider a small pond. • Don’t buy frogs as pets or as food. • Don’t run over frogs – look out for them on rainy nights. • Don’t use pesticides or herbicides in your garden. • Don’t use harmful chemicals in your home. • Consider where your food came from and how it got there. • Donate to the EWT Threatened Amphibian Programme.
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Eastern Cape, following the rediscovery of this species in 2011 – after a 13 year absence of records.” Today TAP continue the work on this species by working with landowners to secure grassland habitat. “Much of my work over the past 10 years has also focused on the KZN coast’s Pickersgill’s Reed Frog,” adds Jeanne. “At the start of this research the species was Critically Endangered and known from just eight sites, many of which we found to no longer exist as a result of habitat destruction. Today, through continued surveys and a much better understanding of the habitat
