ZooParc in Overloon in Overloon has added the Tobago brook frog to it Madidi reserve of South American jungle dwellers.

‘This species of frog is almost completely unknown, so much so it doesn’t even have a name in most languages,’ chief animal caretaker Steven van den Heuvel said. ‘We have called it a ‘beekkikker’ (brook frog) in Dutch which is derived from other languages in which this species does have a name. It lives in brooks and rivers, hence the name.’

The zoo is home to eight of the frogs whose only known habitat is the island of Tobago which forms the lesser Antilles with its bigger neighbour Trinidad. ZooParc is one of six European zoos to own Tobago brook frogs.

The female of the species lays between 11 and 19 eggs at the time after which she quits the scene leaving it is then up to the male to check the nest. After the eggs hatch he transports the tadpoles on his back to shallow water, where they stay until maturity.