Forget twins or even triplets, a British zoo has welcomed a brood of 43 tiny endangered frogs.

Chester Zoo said its cinnamon frog tadpoles are the first to be bred by a European zoo and are the only amphibians of their kind to hatch in any zoo in the world in almost two years.

Native to Borneo and Sumatra in south-east Asia, keepers replicated the conditions found in their native humid, damp tropical environment, creating ponds with "water-filled cavities and rotting logs" and water made acidic by rotting plant material.

Ben Baker, Chester Zoo's team manager for lower vertebrates and invertebrates, said: "It's really exciting that we have bred these unusual and very sensitive frogs, especially as we're the first zoo in Europe to ever do so.

"Cinnamon frogs are a secretive species and live in a very, very specialised environment.

"Their ideal habitat is incredibly limited and so, as with many frog species around the world, they are extremely fragile.

"Currently they are listed as near-threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) but, with population sizes decreasing due to widespread habitat loss, the species is likely to become threatened in the near future."

The frogs will now form part of the zoo's new £30 million Islands development, which will recreate habitats in the Philippines, Bali, Sulawesi, Papua, Sumba and Sumatra.