The mountain chicken is not a bird. It is one of the largest frogs in the world, found in the eastern Caribbean.1Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs The name is mostly about the dinner table: people on its home islands ate the frog and said it tasted like chicken.2Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax Today the name points to a loss, because eating and other threats helped push the frog close to extinction.3Wikipedia. Frog legs
Where the Name Mountain Chicken Comes From
Food is the leading explanation. The frog was hunted and treated as a local delicacy on Montserrat and Dominica.4Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax Its meat is said to taste like chicken, and most accounts give that as the main reason for the name.5Discover Wildlife. It’s called a chicken, sounds like a chicken, tastes like a chicken and raises its young like a chicken – but it definitely isn’t a chicken Frog legs in general are described as tasting like chicken, so this frog fits a wider pattern.
Size and sound may also have shaped the name. The frog is large, closer to a small bird than to a garden frog.6Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs When alarmed it gives a squawking call that people compare to a chicken.7Discover Wildlife. It’s called a chicken, sounds like a chicken, tastes like a chicken and raises its young like a chicken – but it definitely isn’t a chicken “Mountain” fits its home in hilly island forests, and some sources say the name joins habitat and flavor.8Wikipedia. Frog legs The word is loose island talk for forested hill country, not a claim that the frog lives on peaks. On Montserrat its range once reached down to sea level. Another common name for it is the giant ditch frog.9Discover Wildlife. It’s called a chicken, sounds like a chicken, tastes like a chicken and raises its young like a chicken – but it definitely isn’t a chicken No single origin is certain, and several reasons may have stacked: a big, squawking frog that tastes like chicken earns the name more than one way.
Scientists use the name Leptodactylus fallax to be sure they mean this one species. The frog also has other local names, such as crapaud on Dominica, so a search for “mountain chicken” alone will meet it under different names in different places.
Do People Still Eat Mountain Chicken
On Dominica the frog is called the “crapaud” and was the unofficial national dish.10Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Cultural association and its role in garnering support for conservation: the case of the Mountain Chicken Frog on Dominica Until a hunting ban in 2002, between 8,000 and 36,000 frogs were legally harvested each year.11Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Cultural association and its role in garnering support for conservation: the case of the Mountain Chicken Frog on Dominica Now the frog is critically endangered.12Wikipedia. Frog legs
Any dish sold as mountain chicken would come from an illegally killed endangered animal. Visitors curious about the tradition can learn about it through local culture rather than by tasting it.
The frog still appears on Dominica’s coat of arms and in the logos of local businesses and the island’s own bank.13Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Cultural association and its role in garnering support for conservation: the case of the Mountain Chicken Frog on Dominica It features in proverbs too, such as “crapaud don’t fan their own soup.”14Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Cultural association and its role in garnering support for conservation: the case of the Mountain Chicken Frog on Dominica Another saying, “it’s the crapaud’s tongue that betrayed his own self,” is also tied to the frog.15Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Cultural association and its role in garnering support for conservation: the case of the Mountain Chicken Frog on Dominica
What Kind of Frog the Mountain Chicken Is
It is the largest frog native to the Caribbean and the largest in its family.16Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax It can weigh up to 1 kg (2.2 lb), about the weight of a small chicken. It can reach 22 cm (8.7 in) from snout to rear, though most adults are 17 to 18 cm.17Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax Females tend to be larger than males.18Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax
Its size shapes how it lives. Being the largest in its family means it can tackle prey that smaller frogs would never try. These frogs have been seen eating large tarantula-type spiders on Montserrat.19Tropical Zoology. Two remarkable prey items for a chicken:Leptodactylus fallaxMüller, 1926 predation upon the theraphosid spiderCyrtopholis femoralisPocock, 1903 and the colubrid snakeLiophis juliae(Cope, 1879) On Dominica one had eaten a snake, and at least four snake species are known in its diet.20Tropical Zoology. Two remarkable prey items for a chicken:Leptodactylus fallaxMüller, 1926 predation upon the theraphosid spiderCyrtopholis femoralisPocock, 1903 and the colubrid snakeLiophis juliae(Cope, 1879) Males have a very loud call that carries a long distance.21Texas A&M University Study Abroad – Dominica. The Territorial Behavior of the Mountain Chicken
The parenting is unusual. Tadpoles grow inside a foam nest.22London Zoo. World’s most threatened frog breeds at London Zoo The mother lays thousands of unfertilised eggs for them to eat every one to seven days.23London Zoo. World’s most threatened frog breeds at London Zoo The young get a steady food supply, a habit rare among frogs.24London Zoo. World’s most threatened frog breeds at London Zoo
Where Mountain Chickens Live
The frog once lived on many islands in the eastern Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles.25Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax These included Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, where it is now gone.26Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax Today it is restricted to Dominica and Montserrat.27Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs
On Montserrat it once ranged from sea level to 1,000 metres in the Soufrière Hills.28Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs But the 1995 eruption’s ash and hot flows likely wiped out several populations.29The Conversation. Only two Montserrat ‘mountain chicken’ frogs remain. Can this species come back from the brink? The frog was squeezed into a small part of the Centre Hills reserve, where the forest stayed intact.30Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs
Why the Mountain Chicken Is Nearly Extinct
The main killer is chytrid, a fungal skin disease of amphibians.31PubMed Central. Dynamics and genetics of a disease-driven species decline to near extinction: lessons for conservation The frogs collapsed island-wide within 18 months on Dominica and under a year on Montserrat.32PubMed Central. Dynamics and genetics of a disease-driven species decline to near extinction: lessons for conservation That is one of the fastest declines recorded for any species.33PubMed Central. Dynamics and genetics of a disease-driven species decline to near extinction: lessons for conservation Hunting and volcanic habitat loss had already weakened the populations.34The Conversation. Only two Montserrat ‘mountain chicken’ frogs remain. Can this species come back from the brink? Hunting alone did not cause the crash, but it left fewer frogs to survive the fungus.
Frogs take in water and some of their oxygen through their skin, so damage to it upsets their basic body balance. The fungus thickens the skin, and a frog can lose salts it needs and then die, often from heart failure. A frog may show few outward signs early on, so a population can look healthy until many are already infected.
The fungus has swimming spores that move through water and damp ground, so it passes between frogs in streams, puddles and wet leaf litter. Other amphibians on the islands can carry it without getting sick, so it has hosts even when mountain chickens are scarce. It cannot simply be waited out, since it stays in the forest after a die-off.
In 2004 the total population was estimated at perhaps 8,000.35Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax By 2017 to 2019 fewer than 200 remained on Dominica.36Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax One survey of Dominica hotspots found only 21 frogs alive.37ZSL. Mountain chicken conservation Montserrat’s frogs crashed in 2009 to 2010, and the species was considered functionally extinct there by 2019.38Wikipedia. Leptodactylus fallax “Functionally extinct” means a few frogs may remain, but too few to sustain a population in the wild.
How People Are Trying to Save the Mountain Chicken
The fungus thrives at 17 to 25°C on wet forest floors.39Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs But it cannot survive above 30°C, while mountain chickens can.40Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs So refuges on Montserrat have solar-heated pools kept above 30°C, thinned canopy and sunny basking spots.41Experiment – Moving Science Forward. Creating a refuge from amphibian chytrid fungus for the critically endangered mountain chicken Infected frogs bathing in warm water may reduce their infection.42ZSL. Why Is It Called a Mountain Chicken? Because the fungus cannot be removed from the islands, these warm refuges let frogs live alongside it without any drug.
Baths with an antifungal drug lowered infection in treated frogs in a 2016 report.43Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs Long-term survival wasn’t shown, so it may mainly buy time.44Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs Treating wild frogs one by one is hard work, so it cannot protect a whole forest.
London Zoo keeps a protected population to supply future releases.45ZSL. Why Is It Called a Mountain Chicken? With under 200 wild frogs, captive breeding and release will stay vital for now.46Natural History Museum. Mountain chickens: how we almost lost the Caribbean’s largest frogs Releases only help if conditions are right, which is why the warm refuges matter alongside breeding.
Readers can help by supporting zoo programmes such as the Mountain Chicken Recovery Programme, which funds breeding. Visitors to Dominica should never buy or eat the frog. Cleaning boots between forests helps avoid carrying amphibian fungus.