SYDNEY: The 70-year-old biology professor and conservationist at the University of Newcastle in Australia's New South Wales has mastered imitating and understanding the numerous shrills, croaks and whistles of frogs to locate them in the wild. And he gets a thrill every time they call back.
Wading through a moonlit pond on Australia's east coast talking to frogs makes Michael Mahony feel like a kid again.
The 70-year-old biology professor and conservationist at Australia's University of Newcastle has mastered imitating and understanding the shrills, croaks and whistles of frogs.
"Sometimes you forget to work because, you know, you just want to talk to the frogs for a while and it's sort of good fun," Mahony told Reuters from a pond in Cooranbong, New South Wales.
He is thrilled every time they call back, but fears frogs are increasingly at risk of going silent.
Australia has about 240 frog species, but around 30% of them are threatened by climate change, water pollution, habitat loss, the chytrid fungus, and in a variety of other ways. Globally frogs are the most threatened of all vertebrates, Mahony said.
Over his career, Mahony has described 15 new species of frogs. He has also seen some wiped out.
"Probably the saddest part of my career is that as a young person, I discovered a frog and within two years of it being discovered that frog went extinct," Mahony said.
"So very early in my career I became aware just how vulnerable some of our frogs were. We need to be looking at our habitats and asking what is wrong."
Beyond working to preserve amphibian habitats across Australia, Mahony has helped to develop a cryopreservation method to help bring frogs back from the edge of extinction by "banking" genetic material.
"What we've done in the face of the problems of catastrophic loss of species is to establish the first genome bank for Australian frogs," he said.
Mahony also contributed with other scientists to a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that found nearly three billion Australian animals were killed or displaced by bushfires in 2019 and 2020, including 51 million frogs.
Mahony's passion for conservation has also rubbed off on his students. One of them, Simon Clulow, named a newly discovered frog "Mahony's Toadlet" in his honour in 2016.
Some students have taken up his technique of calling and talking to frogs as well.
"I've never been into yelling at them to find out where they are," University of Newcastle doctoral student and frog researcher Samantha Wallace said.
"But it definitely does work, so it does pay back, especially when you're trying to find some of these species that are really amongst the undergrowth and they're not really obvious."
Reuters
Sat Jun 26 2021
![Frog whisperer: Australian scientist speaks to frogs, fears their silence Frog whisperer: Australian scientist speaks to frogs, fears their silence](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2021-06/71624626562_AUSTRALIA.jpg)
Professor Michael Mahony holds a Green and Golden Bell Frog as PhD candidate and research assistant Rebecca Sceto looks on inside a laboratory at the University of Newcastle, Australia. REUTERSpic
![Dewan Rakyat lulus RUU Agensi Kawalan dan Perlindungan Sempadan Malaysia Dewan Rakyat lulus RUU Agensi Kawalan dan Perlindungan Sempadan Malaysia](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/41721021538_TBSHAMSUL.jpg)
Dewan Rakyat lulus RUU Agensi Kawalan dan Perlindungan Sempadan Malaysia
Rang Undang-Undang Agensi Kawalan dan Perlindungan Sempadan Malaysia 2024 yang bertujuan menubuhkan MCBA diluluskan persidangan Dewan Rakyat, hari ini.
![PAC akan mulakan prosiding isu dibangkit LKAN Siri 2/2024 PAC akan mulakan prosiding isu dibangkit LKAN Siri 2/2024](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-03/61710922383_MasErmieyatiSamsud.jpg)
PAC akan mulakan prosiding isu dibangkit LKAN Siri 2/2024
Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang Negara (PAC) akan memulakan prosiding bagi empat isu yang dibangkitkan dalam Laporan Ketua Audit Negara (LKAN) Siri 2/2024.
AWANI Ringkas: Kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini | Skandal LCS
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
ADUN Rembia sertai Pas, kenapa tak umum tahun lepas? - MP Kampar
Chong Zhemin, tindakan tersebut seolah-olah satu penghinaan paling besar kepada Parlimen yang telah meluluskan pindaan Perlembagaan Persekutuan berkait Akta Antilompat Parti.
Masuk Pas untuk sama-sama susah dengan rakyat - ADUN Rembia
Muhamad Jailani berkata, sebelum ini beliau pernah menghantar surat kepada Lembaga Disiplin UMNO memohon untuk memecat keahliannya daripada parti Melayu itu.
[TERKINI] Astro dipilih sebagai penyiar rasmi Olimpik Paris 2024
Astro dipilih sebagai penyiar rasmi bagi Sukan Olimpik Paris 2024 bermula hujung bulan ini.
[TERKINI] Speaker DUN Melaka tunggu surat rasmi Muhammad Jailani
DUN Melaka masih menunggu surat rasmi daripada Pas berhubung tindakan ADUN Rembia, Datuk Muhamad Jailani Khamis yang menyertai Pas.
Sasar sumbang RM500 bilion kepada kdnk tempoh tiga tahun
Selangor perlu merancakkan semula kapasiti pembuatan untuk tidak hanya memenuhi keperluan tempatan, tetapi menjadikan negeri itu sebagai asas kepada pelan peluasan ke rantau Asia Tenggara dan Asia.
![Wanita dihempap kayu balak mula sedarkan diri Wanita dihempap kayu balak mula sedarkan diri](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/61720789446_Wanitadihempapkay.jpg)
Wanita dihempap kayu balak mula sedarkan diri
Wanita yang nyaris maut akibat dihempap kayu balak dalam kejadian di lampu isyarat di Persimpangan Bendahara, Jalan Gua Musang-Kuala Krai di sini 9 Julai lepas, kini dilaporkan mula sedarkan diri.
Sah suspek anggota polis
Ketua Polis Selangor, Datuk Hussein Omar Khan mengesahkan suspek bunuh Nur Farah Kartini, ialah anggota polis.
Suspek juga yang dipercayai teman lelaki mangsa dan bertugas di Perak.
Suspek juga yang dipercayai teman lelaki mangsa dan bertugas di Perak.