Reptile & Amphibian Forums

THE GAZETTE (Blackpoole, England) 24 September 07 Expert finds 'extinct' frog (Emma Harris)
An endangered frog – thought to have become extinct – has just been rediscovered by a Blackpool amphibian expert.
Andrew Gray came across the Golden Toad – or Bufo pereglines – when trekking in Costa Rica.
The former Highfield High School pupil was actually on the hunt for a different animal, the rare green-eyed frog, Rana vibicaria, at their last-known breeding site, in a remote part of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve.
It was after a 16-hour long hike which took him across a mountain trail, that Andrew – who grew up in South Shore and used to work at Blackpool Tower Circus – and his colleague heard an unfamiliar frog call.
The dad-of-two, who now lives in Chorley and is curator of herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians) at The Manchester Museum, said: "I am very familiar with amphibians in Costa Rica and I know most of the calls. But this was a call I had never heard before.
"We decided to try to find the frog making it. It wasn't easy, it was pitch black at night, and the frog was clinging on to a branch, high up in a tree-top.
"I had to scale the tree, which was slippery and covered in moss, in my wellies to get to it, but we managed it.
"One look at the frog in my hand and I knew it was something very special."
The brown and metallic green tree frog, a nocturnal species, had not been seen for almost 20 years and was believed to be extinct.
Andrew said: "This is very significant. With the climate changing in Coast Rica, due to global warming, many amphibian species have been disappearing. This is quite an iconic amphibian there.
"It is exciting, because it means there is hope other species, also thought to be extinct, might be living somewhere in such remote parts."
For Andrew, his current work is a far cry from his memories of playing as a child in the local park – where he believes his interest in amphibians began.
He said: "As a child, I loved being taken to Ashton Gardens in St Annes by my grandmother. I would quite happily take a bucket with me and fill it with newts and tadpoles."
Expert finds 'extinct' frog

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS (UK) 25 September 07 Extinct? No, I just hopped off (Paul R Taylor)
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 in Central America. 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."
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 programme.
Extinct? No, I just hopped off