Pyxicephalus adspersus
Giant Bullfrogs are the largest, and perhaps most intriguing, of the roughly 130 native southern African frog species! They inhabit open grassland areas that are based on poorly drained soils, since these promote the formation of rain-filled depressions, or pans, which are required for successful breeding.

Giant Bullfrogs originally occurred in great densities across South Africa, but extensive loss of habitat with concomitant decline in their numbers have resulted in their being listed by the World Conservation Union as ‘Near-Threatened’ in southern Africa. It is feared that extinction of the species is eminent in the Free State, and has already occurred in Swaziland.

Formulation of an effective conservation management strategy for the species requires a certain amount of baseline data, non-existent until recently. The Endangered Wildlife Trust Giant Bullfrog Project aims to investigate several aspects of the bullfrog’s enigmatic ecology and to provide crucial information for the formulation of a conservation management strategy.

As an important food chain species, as a highly appropriate indicator of environmental health on the Highveld, and as a flagship species for South Africa’s highly threatened wetlands and grassland biome, conservation of the Giant Bullfrog will undoubtedly have far-reaching benefits for our natural heritage.