[3][8] The mountain chicken also has a distinctive, dark-outlined fold from the back of the head to the groin, and large, conspicuous eyes with dark pupils and a golden iris.

[2] In the early 2000s, the mountain chicken was largely restricted to the Centre Hill of northern Montserrat, having been lost from much of the rest of the island by recent volcanic eruptions, and on the western side of Dominica.

[8] At the start of this period, the male frogs compete to gain access to preferred nesting sites by wrestling and making loud 'whooping' calls from forest paths and undergrowth clearings.

Once the nest is built, which takes 9 to 14 hours, the male leaves the burrow to defend it from intruders, while the female lays the eggs.

[1][4] A captive breeding program is maintained by several zoos and some offspring have been returned to Montserrat where they live in an enclosure in semi-wild conditions.

[4] Sometime between 2005 and 2009 the fungus was introduced to Montserrat, perhaps via small frogs on imported banana leaves, and it spread southwards from northern ports along river systems.

[4] The mountain chicken has also lost huge areas of its habitat to agriculture, tourist developments, human settlements and, on Montserrat, volcanic eruptions.

On Dominica, the species is largely confined to coastal areas where there is great demand for land for construction, industry and farming, while on Montserrat, volcanic activity since 1995 has exterminated all populations outside of the Centre Hills.

[2][8] Human encroachment upon the species' habitat has also brought it into contact with a range of pollutants, including the highly toxic herbicide Paraquat, which is known to kill birds and mammals.

[8] In February 2010, volcanic activity from Soufrière Hills on Montserrat resulted in ash covering large parts of the frog's habitat on that island, further endangering the species.

[14] Following the catastrophic volcanic eruptions on Montserrat, it became clear that dedicated conservation measures were needed if the mountain chicken frog was to be saved from extinction.

Additional frogs were taken from disease-free areas, and the species has readily bred in captivity, with a number of other zoos achieving further breeding success.

[15] In addition, since January 1998, the Montserrat Forestry and Environment Division, in partnership with Fauna and Flora International, have been monitoring the species' population.

[18] This is part of a trial program to determine the later chance of a successful reintroduction and these frogs are closely monitored to see potential differences in mortality to the chytrid fungus that is found throughout Montserrat.

[4] This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Leptodactylus fallax" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL.