Hop over to the Western Australian Maritime Museum next Wednesday night and dive into the fascinating frog world of the Kimberley, when Dr Paul Doughty presents Wet and Wild: Frogs of the Kimberley.

Dr Doughty, Curator of Herpetology at the WA Museum, will delve into recent frog discoveries and explore a who’s who of frogs in this region, covering conspicuous tree frogs, rockhole frogs, burrowing frogs and more.

“The various environments of the Kimberley – from savannah plains to rugged sandstone outcrops – combined with the summer rains of the region’s wet season, create a hot spot which is the most frog-rich area in the whole of WA.” Said Dr Doughty.

“Some of these frogs can be quite charismatic and display fascinating behaviour.  The Kimberley Spadefoot, for example, has a unique defensive tactic of lowering its head and raising the hindquarters to deter predators.”

This lecture is part of the 2014 In the Wild West lecture series, which, thanks to support from Rangelands Natural Resource Management Western Australia, will visit Broome, Kununurra, Port Hedland, Karratha and Carnarvon, with lectures repeated at WA Museum sites in Geraldton, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Perth and Fremantle over a six month period.

 “With exciting scientific discoveries and interesting cultural developments occurring across the State, the In the Wild West lecture series allows us to share important and relevant stories with Western Australian communities,” WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said.

“This lecture series aligns with the WA Museum’s mission of inspiring people to explore and share their identity, culture, environment and sense of place, and it also underpins the themes supporting the New Museum redevelopment by providing an opportunity to showcase unique biodiversity of our State and to share the incredible stories of our people, all presented by our own curators and researchers.”

Lectures will be recorded throughout the series and made available for viewing on the WA Museum’s website.

Wet and Wild: Frogs of the Kimberley commences at 6pm on Wednesday 30 July.  Entry is a gold coin donation; bookings can be made on 1300 134 081 or http://museum.wa.gov.au/wet-and-wild-frogs-kimberley.

Jane Rosevear
Media and Communications Officer
Western Australian Museum
(08) 6552 7805
jane.rosevear@museum.wa.gov.au