Rainbow toad, thought to be extinct, is re-discovered in Borneo
For almost 90 years, it was thought that Ansonia latidisca, also known as the rainbow toad, had gone extinct. But just to make sure, with the hope that some still existed, researchers trekked through the dense jungles of Borneo until they found one.
Dr Indraneil Das led a team that searched the ridges of the Gunung Penrissen range of Western Sarawak, a boundary between Malaysia’s Sarawak State and Indonesia’s Kalimantan Barat Province. After several months of night-long expeditions, one of Dr Das’s graduate students eventually spotted a small toad in the high branches of a tree.
“Thrilling discoveries like this beautiful toad, and the critical importance of amphibians to healthy ecosystems, are what fuel us to keep searching for lost species,” said Dr Das.
“They remind us that nature still holds precious secrets that we are still uncovering.” Dr Robin Moore of Conservation International, who launched the Global Search for Lost Amphibians, was delighted by the discovery. He said: “To see the first pictures of a species that has been lost for almost 90 years defies belief. "It is good to know that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planet’s escalating extinction crisis.
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