Environmentalists have spanned across the globe in search of frog species that have long been considered extinct. It seems like the resilient little critters, once thought long dead are thriving and alive in places where you would least expect them.
Scientists have peered into remote forests, swampy fields and dark caves and noted the rapid decline of amphibians and the urgent need to protect them. Robin Moore heads the Search for the Lost Frogs Campaign, sponsored by Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
He says the once plentiful Golden Toad, which lived in a protected area of Costa Rica and disappeared in a little over a year.
“In 1989, one individual male turned up at a pool waiting for mates to breed. And that was the last individual ever seen,” he says.
Teams are also looking for the Gastric Brooding Frog, last spotted in 1985. “The females actually swallow the eggs and they develop in her stomach into small frogs which then hatch out through her mouth.”
Other amphibians with names such as the Scarlet Frog from Venezuela, the Hula Painted Frog from Israel and the Rio Pescado Stubfoot Toad from Ecuador have been given their own search teams. They’re not optimistic.
One-third of the world’s more than 6,000 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, due to disease, habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Despite those odds, Moore says some teams have confirmed rediscoveries including the small brown Ivory Coast Mt. Nimba Reed Frog, last seen in 1967.
“It’s a huge discovery from a scientific and conservation perspective for the team and for us.”
Ivory Coast scientist N’Goran Kouama, who found the frog in a swampy field, worries that if people continue to destroy its habitat the frog will truly vanish. He says its rediscovery promotes a sense of pride over unique African resources. “[It shows] to everyone that we have a heritage here and we must protect it.”
More importantly, Moore adds that the frog’s survival also draws attention to the benefits that a healthy ecosystem provides, not only for frogs, but for people. “[They help] regulate things such as fresh water, rainfall. It’s really our support system and we need to take care of it, not just for its good, but for our good as well.”