An endangered species of frogs that lives only on Victoria's Mt Baw Baw has been revealed to the public after the first stages of a breeding program at Melbourne Zoo.

Four of the two-centimetre-long Baw Baw frogs are on display in the reptile enclosure after being raised in a quarantined bunker from eggs collected in the wild.

The enclosure mimics the cool temperate rainforest and alpine environment of their home on Mt Baw Baw, 120 kilometres east of Melbourne.

The zoo is caring for further tadpoles in its "Baw Baw bunker", and once enough males and females are raised researchers hope to begin breeding them in captivity.

Rachel Lowry, director of wildlife conservation at Melbourne Zoo, said without the captive breeding program, the frogs were predicted to be extinct within 10 years.

"We've seen a 92 per cent decline in their population since 2006," she said.

Ms Lowry said the reason for the decline was partly the impact of chytrid fungus which has caused infection in a number of frog species, and partly the effects of climate change.

"This is an alpine environment and they are very sensitive to climate," she said.

Ambitious plan to prevent extinction

With less than 1,000 frogs estimated to remain in the wild, finding the eggs to begin a breeding program was the researchers' biggest challenge.

The zoo sent a specialised team out to the rugged slopes of Mt Baw Baw to search for the eggs, following the call of a male Baw Baw frog.

"It took six weeks of searching through Mt Baw Baw every single day before they were able to locate the first egg mass," Ms Lowry said.

"There's only a one-month window each year when you can locate them because the males of the species only call for one month each year — and if you can't hear them calling you've got no idea where to look."

The search was made all the more challenging by the fact the frogs are highly camouflaged, grow to only about four centimetres long and live and feed underground.

Tadpoles feed from the yolk of their own egg and adult frogs wait for their food to come to them, usually eating insects that walk over their limbs unsuspectingly.

"They're fascinating frogs ... they're Victorian, they're one of us," Ms Lowry said.