![\"Happy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/b60c41349eca816a440a9fa6fc489e52024bdaad.jpeg\")
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Happy frogs inside their sauna at Macquarie University.Credit: Anthony Waddle<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the winter, their physiology is really depressed, and the chytrid is thriving because it\u2019s cold. This is when you see mass die-offs of populations, and this is the critical time for us to do conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The genius of the frog saunas is their simplicity. By creating \u201cJenga towers\u201d of bricks, researchers created habitats with different humidity and heat levels, allowing frogs to move between holes in the bricks and adjust to different temperatures as they go.<\/p>\n
Inside, the humidity is as high as 100 per cent, perfect for frogs that secrete mucus from their skin (frogs don\u2019t sweat, as such). The team leaves the greenhouse flaps open, so the frogs can leave if they choose, but they are showing no signs of wanting to leave their greenhouse saunas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all free from chytrid, and they\u2019re all super-fat and healthy,\u201d Waddle said.<\/p>\n
In May, Waddle won a prestigious Future for Nature award<\/a> for his work saving amphibians from the deadly fungus.<\/p>\n The next step, he said, would be to get the rescued frogs breeding and then release them back into the wild in summer \u2013 complete with antibodies that would protect them against future chytrid infections.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s actually the first time, to my knowledge, that someone\u2019s done a release where we\u2019ve attempted to mitigate chytrid in Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re declining in the wild because of chytrid \u2026 once it\u2019s in the environment, it\u2019s there forever. It\u2019s part of the ecosystem, so you have to manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n Chytrid is an invasive species and amphibian pathogen thought to originate from the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s actually the worse invasive species ever \u2026 nothing else has caused as many extinctions,\u201d Waddle said.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cYou think about things like cane toads and cats and rats \u2026 it\u2019s worse than all of those. Just in Australia, we\u2019ve lost six species [to chytrid], and it happened very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers have created about 70 frog saunas in Greater Sydney, and have compiled social media clips<\/a> demonstrating how anyone can build a frog sauna in their backyard.<\/p>\n