Frog Species Rediscovered After 62 Years

A single specimen of the Bururi long-fingered frog was discovered recently in Burundi. None of them had been seen for 62 years, so it was a great rediscovery. The endangered frog is just about 1.5 inches long. It was feared extinct, due to habitat loss in part because Burundi has a very dense human population.

However, the area where the frog lives has been somewhat well-preserved. David Blackburn is the man who found the single specimen, and his observation took place at night in a forest. “I thought I heard the call and walked toward it, then waited. In a tremendous stroke of luck, I casually moved aside some grass and the frog was just sitting there on a log. I heard multiple calls over the next few nights, indicating a healthy population of the species, but I was only able to find this one specimen,” he said. (Source: Physcom.org)

The good news is he found what is probably a number of them living in the wild, but the single specimen is now in a herpetology collection, which might mean it isn’t alive. There could be dozens of them in the wild, observed the researcher.

Animals that are rediscovered after being missing for years and presumed extinct are called Lazarus species, because of the biblical story of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus.

In 2011, a frog in India which had been missing for 30 years, was found again, in a trash bin.

Image Credit: David Blackburn

Read more: Nature, Nature & Wildlife, Wildlife, frogs

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Marcel E.

2:52PM PDT on Mar 30, 2013

Thanks for sharing

March 30
send a green star

paul m.

6:00AM PST on Dec 28, 2012

Lovely.....

December 28
send a green star

Gabriel L.

11:13PM PST on Nov 27, 2012

Thanks.

November 27
send a green star

Franco D.

4:54AM PST on Nov 21, 2012

Very happy to see their lives continue.

November 21
send a green star

Rosann T.

6:16PM PST on Nov 18, 2012

I am very glad to know that the Bururi frog has been rediscovered after the thought of the species being extinct! However why did this frog have to become part of a herpetology collection and loose his life? Would it not have been better to make this frog a living quarters simulating his/her environment to the best one could and study their habits etc, for a reasonable time, then release this frog back where he was found? It seems like this is just adding to the extinction possabilities.