'Extinct' frog is rediscovered
Source: Agencies |
March 5, 2010, Friday
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A SPECIES of frog thought to have been extinct for 30 years has been discovered in rural Australian farmland, officials said yesterday.
Frank Sartor, minister for environment and climate change, said the discovery of the yellow-spotted bell frog is a reminder of the need to protect natural habitats so "future generations can enjoy the noise and color of our native animals."
Luke Pearce, a fisheries conservation officer, stumbled across one of the frogs in October 2008 while researching an endangered fish species in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales state.
Pearce told The Associated Press he had been walking along a stream trying to catch a perch when he spotted the frog next to the water. He returned in 2009 with experts who confirmed it was a colony of about 100 yellow-spotted bell frogs.
Dave Hunter, threatened species officer with the Department of Climate Change and Water, said the find is important. "To have found this species that hasn't been seen for 30 years and that professional researchers thought was extinct is great," he said. "It gives us a lot of hope that a lot of other species that we thought were extinct aren't actually extinct - we just haven't found them."
The find was kept secret to establish measures to protect the frog.
Frank Sartor, minister for environment and climate change, said the discovery of the yellow-spotted bell frog is a reminder of the need to protect natural habitats so "future generations can enjoy the noise and color of our native animals."
Luke Pearce, a fisheries conservation officer, stumbled across one of the frogs in October 2008 while researching an endangered fish species in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales state.
Pearce told The Associated Press he had been walking along a stream trying to catch a perch when he spotted the frog next to the water. He returned in 2009 with experts who confirmed it was a colony of about 100 yellow-spotted bell frogs.
Dave Hunter, threatened species officer with the Department of Climate Change and Water, said the find is important. "To have found this species that hasn't been seen for 30 years and that professional researchers thought was extinct is great," he said. "It gives us a lot of hope that a lot of other species that we thought were extinct aren't actually extinct - we just haven't found them."
The find was kept secret to establish measures to protect the frog.
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