Leapfrog event planned to save frogs with a giant hop

The Endangered Wildlife Trust is “hopping” to spring into the Guinness Book of World Records on Friday by coordinating the world’s biggest leapfrog event.

At least 1‚500 school children will line the sidewalks of the Durban beachfront and vault over one another in an effort to bring attention to the plight of frogs worldwide.

Amphibians are the most threatened animals on the planet‚ with almost one third facing extinction.

• Frogs - fact or fictionNo‚ touching a frog won't give you warts - and if you want a prince‚ kissing one of these amphibians won't help you either. 

Dr Jeanne Tarrant‚ manager of the Threatened Amphibian Programme at the EWT‚ hopes that the event will be a “springboard to further campaigning for frogs”.

THULI DLAMINI

Picture: THULI DLAMINI

This is the fourth national Leap Day‚ held annually to create awareness around the plight of frogs.

“Each year we run lots of activities around frogs‚ especially in schools. About two years ago we came up with the barmy idea of trying to break the world record‚” she said.

To achieve their goal of making into the record books‚ 1‚349 people need to complete the jump to beat the current record of 1‚348‚ set in Christchurch‚ New Zealand in 2011. That game lasted a continuous 9 minutes.

Strict criteria have to be met in order to qualify for a Guinness World record.

“We have marshals‚ dressed in green of course‚ for every 50 participants. The pupils will be led to their positions by the marshals and children have to jump over one another for at least five minutes – although not all at the same time‚” said Tarrant.

She said arranging the event had been a challenge. The Trust worked with area based managers of public schools to organise for pupils to take part‚ and there will be medics on standby‚ although it’s been passed as a low risk event.

“Frogs are disappearing all over the planet largely because of habitat destruction‚” said Tarrant. “We want to highlight this and at the same time celebrate the diversity of frogs. They are awesome things. There are so many more than just the boring old toad in your garden.

“We hold frogging evenings‚ where we go on forays into forests looking for frogs. No frog in South Africa is poisonous or dangerous. We want to dispel the myths around frogs that lead to them being harmed.”

The hoppy event will take place at Durban’s Beachfront Promenade outside uShaka at 10am on Friday‚ February 24.

- TMG Digital/TimesLIVE