Scientist finds ‘extinct’ frog

10:29am Wednesday 26th September 2007

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A zoologist has leaped into the biology big time after rediscovering an extinct' frog.

Andrew Gray, who comes from Blackpool, has excited biologists and conservationists around the globe when he found the brown and metallic-green tree frog - with the Latin name Isthomhyla rivularis - in the remote forests of Costa Rica.

Andrew, who now lives in Euxton, near Chorley, is a curator of herpetology at the Manchester Museum and honorary scientific associate at The University of Manchester, and was on a research trip at the time in the famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, the last known breeding site of that species.

Many amphibian species of frog have disappeared from such areas over the last 25 years, probably due to climate change and fungal infection.

Andrew faced a 16-hour hike into the remotest part of the reserve, on the trip.

At one point, Andrew and his companion, naturalist Mark Wainwright, had to cross the middle of a massive landslide where the slightest slip would have proved fatal.

It was during the night when they heard a totally unrecognisable frog call from a high branch and Andrew climbed the three to retrieve the frog.

He said: "One look at the specimen in my hand and I knew I had caught something very special."

No-one had seen one for 20 years. Although Andrew could have collected the prize specimen, he decided it would only be right to leave it in the wild.

After taking several photographs, he released the frog exactly where it had been found.

Experts say the find is not only significant, but also provides new hope that other species considered to be extinct, such as the Golden Toad, may also have survived.