Scientists rediscover rainbow toad

A team of scientists from the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) have rediscovered a colorful, spindly-legged toad, which they believed to have gone extinct. Three of the missing long-legged rainbow toads were found up a tree after the team scoured the remote mountain forests of the Gunung Penrissen range of Western Sarawak, a boundary between Malaysia's Sarawak State and Indonesia's Kalimantan Barat Province for months. "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," the state-funded BBC quoted leader of the team Dr. Indraneil Das as saying. "They remind us that nature still holds precious secrets that we are still uncovering." The species was listed as one of the "world's top 10 most wanted frogs" by the Conservation International which launched its Global Search for Lost Amphibians in 2010. "To see the first pictures of a species that has been lost for almost 90 years defies belief,” said Dr. Robin Moore of Conservation International. "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. "Amphibians are at the forefront of this tragedy, so I hope that these unique species serve as flagships for conservation, inspiring pride and hope by Malaysians and people everywhere."