Scientists in Costa Rica May Have Saved “Rarest Frog in World” from Extinction

A team of scientists on an expedition to study frogs has found the “rarest frog in the world” in Costa Rica. Thought to be extinct for over 20 years, last year hope was renewed when an individual male from the species was found by one of the team’s researchers. Last week the team found a pregnant female, suggesting that this species is still reproducing and has not been made extinct by a deadly skin fungus that is decimating amphibian populations.

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The researchers include scientists from Great Britain’s University of Manchester and Chester Zoo. Andrew Gray is the Curator of Herpetology at the Manchester Museum and is the person who found the “world’s rarest frog” last year in Costa Rica. He travels there each summer to do research, and tries to locate rare frogs so that he can take them back to the University and breed them in captivity in an effort to save them from extinction (one example is the green-eyed frog). This year the BBC News Network followed his team, and has released a video of the most recent frog discovery.

I personally am a little hesitant to call this frog the “world’s rarest frog” unlike some sources because it’s truly impossible for us to know such a thing. Certainly this frog– if on the brink of extinction– is very rare. But there are probably still frog species left to be discovered in places like the Amazon Rainforest and elsewhere. Who can say which is really the most rare? Nitpicking aside, the find of the pregnant female is extraordinary.

The species of discussion is a tree frog known scientifically as Isthmohyla rivularis. It was first found last year and photographed by Andrew Gray in Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve after being thought extinct for some time. Gray and the team returned to the same location this year. Gray explains that

It is hard to describe just how unlikely it was to have discovered a female of this particular species. The only time you ever come across a female is by chance - and it is only once in a blue moon that they come down to lay their eggs. You really have to be in the right place at the right time. You could come out here every night for a year and not see a thing. I really think that this time we have had luck on our side.

On this trip the BBC writes that, “after discovering another male from its soft insect-like call, Luis Obando, head of park maintenance at Monteverde’s Tropical Science Centre, found the tiny female, which was sitting on a leaf.” The frogs were photographed, videoed, and examined. They were then released.

The discovery provides Gray and his team with considerable optimism that this species might yet survive.

So Why Are These and Other Frogs at Risk?

This time Gray and his co-researchers traveled to Costa Rica to not only search for rare frogs, but to also understand how to stop a lethal skin fungus that seems to be killing them. They believe that global warming might have something to do with the new prevalence of the deadly Chytrid fungus. Tree frogs like Isthmohyla rivularis enjoy sunbathing, and Gray and company believe that this sunbathing might help the frogs to kill off the fungus on their skins. As global warming has increased, so has cloud cover over the frogs’ habitats in places like Costa Rica. With less sunbathing, the researchers hypothesize that the fungus has been taking its toll.

For this reason, the researchers have been using non-intrusive infrared reflection spectroscopy and photography to get images of the rare frogs’ skins and internal tissues. They are especially interested in examining the samples obtained from the Isthmohyla rivularis individuals because –so far– they have survived. Perhaps with new data they can help find a cure or solution for the fungus problem and save this species of frog and others from extinction.

The team is currently seeking more funding for this important research. Gray said to the BBC that “with a third of the world’s amphibians currently under threat it’s vitally important we do our utmost to investigate the reasons why they are dying out at such an alarming rate.” Here here, Mr. Gray.

You can follow the progress of the frog researchers on a blog devoted to their quest by clicking here or read more about Gray’s discoveries and other rare amphibians that are threatened in Costa Rica here on BBC News.

Read More About Interesting Discoveries Around the World on the Green Options Network:

• Scientists Puzzled By New Bird Species Discovered in Africa
• Magnificent Waterfall “Discovered” in Peru– Perhaps One of World’s Tallest
• New Ocean Current Discovered
• Two African “Lost Tribes” Discovered Deep in the Sahara
• Brazil Will Play Military War Game to Defend Recently Discovered Offshore Oil

Photo Credit: Photo by Andrew Gray via Wikimedia Commons

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