Reintroducing the Yellow-bellied Toad in our regions

The Yellow-bellied Toad is a small toad recognizable by its yellow belly with black spots and its heart-shaped pupils. Despite its “exotic” appearance, this amphibian lives with us, in Wallonia. It reproduces in small, temporary water pools sometimes simply dug in cart tracks, meadows, or forests. Due to intensive human activities and urbanization, these small natural pools are becoming increasingly rare, causing the species to almost disappear from our regions in the 1980s. Pairi Daiza welcomes and breeds Yellow-bellied Toads in aquariums installed in the Crypt of the Abbey of Cambron.

 

Already 2,000 toads reintroduced

After a last-minute rescue operation of the remaining individuals, Natagora initiated a reintroduction program in 2016, in which Pairi Daiza and its Foundation participate. We provide our adult Yellow-bellied Toads with optimal conditions for reproduction and raise the tadpoles until they metamorphose. They are then released into nature reserves, in areas originally inhabited by the species. For this significant step into the wild, the Yellow-bellied Toads can count on the assistance of the Department of Nature and Forests of the Walloon Region and Natagora, who select the reintroduction sites, assist us in releasing the young toads, and monitor the reintroduced populations.