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Borneo rainbow toad seen for 1st time in 87 years
www.physorg.com ^ | 07-14-2011 | By SEAN YOONG

Posted on 07/14/2011 7:35:18 AM PDT by Red Badger

Scientists scouring the mountains of Borneo spotted a toad species last seen in 1924 by European explorers and provided the world with the first photographs of the colorful, spindly legged creature, a researcher said Thursday.

In recent years, the Washington-based Conservation International placed the Sambas stream toad, also known as the Bornean rainbow toad, on a world "Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs" and voiced fears it might be extinct.

Researchers found three of the slender-limbed toads living on trees during a night search last month in a remote mountainous region of Malaysia's eastern Sarawak state in Borneo, said Indraneil Das, a conservation professor at the Sarawak Malaysia University who led the expedition.

Only illustrations of the toads previously existed. Das said his team first decided to seek the toad last August, but months of searching proved fruitless until they went higher up the Penrissen mountain range, which has rarely been explored in the past century.

"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," Robin Moore, a specialist on amphibians at Conservation International, said in a statement announcing the discovery.

The toads found on three separate trees measured up to 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) in size and comprised an adult male, an adult female and a juvenile, the statement said.

Das declined to reveal the exact site of his team's discovery because of fears of illegal poaching due to strong demand for bright-hued amphibians. Researchers will continue work to find out more about the Borneo Rainbow Toad and other amphibians in Penrissen.

Conservationists say many endangered animals in Borneo are threatened by hunting and habitat loss sparked by logging, plantations and other human development.

More information: Conservation International: http://tinyurl.com/25k8yr2


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: animals; dsj; endangeredspecies; extinct; notbarneyfrank; rainbowtoad
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To: Red Badger
One of the 10 most wanted frogs

We're gonna knock over the bank, see? And Corageous Cat and Minute Mouse aint gonna get in the way, see?

21 posted on 07/14/2011 8:27:12 AM PDT by frithguild
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To: Red Badger

Two different species to a biologist; one would think they’d be more rigorous in print. A toad is of the family Bufonidae and a frog is of the family Ranidae. The distinction is unimportant to me personally as well but if this purports to be a scientific document I think more care should be used.


22 posted on 07/14/2011 8:31:41 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing an idiot)
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To: Red Badger

This is further PROOF that scientists do not know what is extinct, what is not, what is endangered, etc.

It is all hysteria to get power and money.


23 posted on 07/14/2011 8:32:38 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi
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To: muir_redwoods

Ask any female if you drop one down her blouse if it makes any difference..............;^)


24 posted on 07/14/2011 8:35:21 AM PDT by Red Badger (PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
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To: Erik Latranyi

I think it’s safe to say that scientists can label something endangered. Extinction requires the proof of that absence of something. Last I checked, the Earth was pretty large.


25 posted on 07/14/2011 8:54:56 AM PDT by SengirV
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To: Red Badger

26 posted on 07/14/2011 9:03:44 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Gore Lauds Romney on Climate Position; 0bamaCare was based on RomneyCare.)
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To: org.whodat

http://www.eastlandvisitor.com/oldRipHistory.html
You may be thinking of Old Rip.


27 posted on 07/14/2011 9:06:59 AM PDT by Deaf Smith
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To: Deaf Smith

LOL, good one!!!!


28 posted on 07/14/2011 9:12:22 AM PDT by org.whodat
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To: Red Badger

Queer toads? Who knew?


29 posted on 07/14/2011 9:18:47 AM PDT by JimRed (Excising a cancer before it kills us waters the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: Red Badger

Borneo Rainbow Toad? Weren’t they the opening band for the rolling stones?


30 posted on 07/14/2011 9:19:40 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Red Badger

So now the question “if no one sees a Bornean Rainbow Toad for 87 years,do they still exist?” has been answered.


31 posted on 07/14/2011 9:56:46 AM PDT by Figment ("A communist is someone who reads Marx.An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx" R Reagan)
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To: Red Badger

For some reason this popped in my head when I saw the title:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17FX9tFUUjg


32 posted on 07/14/2011 9:58:02 AM PDT by GenXteacher (He that hath no stomach for this fight, let him depart!)
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To: Sgt_Schultze

I don’t know about eating them, but they would make a cool looking boots and belt combo


33 posted on 07/14/2011 10:03:00 AM PDT by Figment ("A communist is someone who reads Marx.An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx" R Reagan)
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To: GSWarrior

34 posted on 07/14/2011 10:03:49 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: muir_redwoods

It’s definitely a toad. As weird as it may sound, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a herpatologist when I grew up. From age 4 or so to about age 11 or 12. I knows me my toads, and that there is one of ‘em. Pretty little gal, too. I’d be willing to bet she made some very lucky male rainbow toad a wonderful wife.


35 posted on 07/14/2011 11:29:35 AM PDT by Gargantua ("Palin 2012 ~ Going Oval")
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To: wbill
I feel pity for people like this. It must be hard to live in a constant state of hyperventilation about everything you say, and everything you do.

All that hyerventialting is causing more CO2 to be released and increasing global warming. That gal needs to calm the heck down! /s

36 posted on 07/14/2011 11:35:08 AM PDT by exit82 (Democrats are the enemy of freedom. Sarah Palin is our Esther.)
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To: frithguild

37 posted on 07/14/2011 1:49:03 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Gargantua

Sure it’s a toad. So why is it listed on a list of the ten most looked for frogs?


38 posted on 07/14/2011 4:25:45 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing an idiot)
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