Extinct? No, I just hopped off
A frog believed to be
extinct for more than two
decades has been rediscovered by
a Manchester scientist.
Zoologist Andrew Gray found the
brown and metallic-green tree
frog - with the Latin name
Isthomhyla rivularis - in the
remote forests of Costa Rica.
His discovery has excited
zoologists, biologists and
conservationists around the
globe as it raises new hope that
other species considered to have
become extinct as a result of
climate change may have
survived.
These include the fabled Golden
Toad of Costa Rica, believed to
be one of the first casualties
of global warming.
Andrew, a curator at Manchester
Museum, trekked for 16 hours to
the remotest area of the
Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve
before making the discovery.
He said: "We were walking
through the forest at night when
I heard a frog call I didn't
recognise.
"I've been visiting and working
in Costa Rica for years and
specialise in tree frogs, so
when I heard the unrecognisable
call from a high branch I knew
I'd have to climb up the
moss-covered trunk in my
Wellingtons and find out what it
was.
"One look at the specimen in my
hand and I knew I had caught
something very special."
Nocturnal
Andrew had rediscovered
Isthomhyla rivularis, a
nocturnal species that has not
been seen since the 1980s.
"There was a crash in the
amphibian population in
Monteverde in the late 80s, when
many species disappeared without
a trace possibly as a result of
a changing climate and fungal
infection.
"So this is a significant
discovery and I have had calls
from around the world.
Zoologists have been searching
for the Golden Toad for years.
It disappeared around the same
time, so this raises new hope
that other species have survived
climate change.
"Frogs are very sensitive and
populations react really quickly
to change."
Andrew, 43, returned a couple of
weeks ago from three months in
the tropics, visiting Thailand,
Ecuador and Costa Rica.
He made the treacherous 16-hour
trek with naturalist Mark
Wainwright, crossing the middle
of a massive landslide at one
point where the slightest slip
would have proved fatal.
Although Andrew could have
collected the prize specimen, he
decided it would only be right
to leave it in the wild. After
taking several photos, he
released the little frog where
he had found it.
He now plans to publish his
findings in a Costa Rican
scientific journal before
returning to the country next
year with the goal of setting up
a breeding program. |
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Zoologist Andrew Gray |
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