Frog Saunas in action – Photo Dr Antony Waddle at Frog ‘saunas’ could help species to battle deadly disease | Natural History Museum

Dear Readers, regular followers here might remember that back in 2024 I reported how ‘frog saunas’ were being used to help frogs in Australia combat the deadly fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which has already wiped out some 90 species of frog. Dr Antony Waddle, the scientist involved,  made the discovery that the fungus that causes the disease cannot survive temperatures higher than 30 degrees Celsius. So, he provided the wild frogs with a simple masonry brick with holes in it, placed inside a little ‘greenhouse’. The frogs who basked in the holes seemed to clear their bodies of chytrid: not only that, but the fungus didn’t come back, even when the frogs moved into cooler areas.

Green and Yellow Bell Frogs using the ‘sauna’ – photo by Dr Anthony Waddle

Following on from the sauna treatment, Dr Waddle developed a vaccine against chytrid: he has raised hundreds of the endangered Green and Yellow Bell Frogs (Ranoidea aurea) and vaccinated them ready for release back into the wild. Sadly, the vaccine doesn’t work on all frogs, so Dr Waddle is also looking at synthetic biology to help some of the 400 species of amphibian around the world who are threatened with extinction by the chytrid fungus. This might involve replacing genes that are most affected by the disease, or looking at ‘resistance genes’ which help some frogs to survive when others are dying. It’s a controversial technology but no one is talking about ‘de-extincting’ animals here. At any rate, it’s clear that frogs have a dedicated friend in Dr Waddle, who is fast becoming my new amphibian-rescuing hero. Frog Man, perhaps?