Hyderabad scientists race to save 80-million-year-old frog ‘Jewel of Gondwana’ from extinction

Hyderabad scientists are helping save Bhupathy’s Purple Frog, a rare species from the time of dinosaurs. It lives underground and comes out only during monsoon rains. Using sound technology, the team tracks and protects these frogs in the Western Ghats

Hyderabad: The researchers from Hyderabad are playing a vital role in the conservation of one of the most mysterious and endangered species of the Western Ghats, Bhupathy’s Purple Frog, scientifically known as Nasikbatrachus bhupati, which dates back to 80 million years, to the time the supercontinent Gondwana broke apart.

This amphibian species, often referred to as ‘Jewel of Gondwana’, virtually spends its entire life deep underground and is supremely hard to find. It emerges only to breed during the first heavy rains, a ritual it has performed on the Indian landmass since the time of dinosaurs.

The regions where the purple frogs breed are indeed primordial and researchers from CCMB are deeply involved in tracking, estimating and conserving their numbers, as well as training the local wildlife authorities in how to spot them and count them.

Led by herpetologist and senior CCMB scientist Dr Kartikeyan Vasudevan and his teams, a concerted effort is underway to conserve and also to develop an accurate estimate of the exact number of this elusive frog.

Bhupathy’s Purple Frog was identified/discovered in 2017 by a team from CCMB, including lead researcher Dr S Jegath Janani, Dr Ramesh K Aggarwal and Dr Vasudevan. Working from their advanced laboratories in Hyderabad, the scientists performed the crucial genetic barcoding and detailed acoustic analysis that confirmed the species was distinct, distinguishing its unique four-pulse mating call from its relative, the Indian Purple Frog.

The frog is highly vulnerable, as the species is Critically Endangered due to its tiny endemic range, which is rapidly being degraded by pollution, water extraction, and habitat loss.

Since this frog is burrowing (fossorial), tracking its numbers is challenging. Dr Vasudevan, along with his team of experts, is primarily relying on bioacoustics, which uses specialised recording equipment to listen for the elusive males’ calls that rise up from beneath the soil.

The acoustic data collected from the remote streams of the Western Ghats is then processed and analysed by the scientists and their team in Hyderabad, forming the basis of their conservation strategy.

Furthermore, Dr Vasudevan’s team is also deeply involved in training the local wildlife officials and forest staff in Western Ghats to recognise the crucial breeding habitats, which are usually fast-flowing rocky streams. They also utilise acoustic methods to monitor and track the population.