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The Loneliest Frog On Earth Dies

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12-10-2016 | 07:03

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The Loneliest Frog On Earth Dies

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The loneliest frog on Earth is dead, taking with him the hope of an entire species.

Toughie was a famed Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog and the last known member of his species.

He had spotted brown skin and a strange bird-like call. He was described as “handsome,”and had his own Wikipedia page.

The United Nations projected Toughie’s image onto its headquarters in New York City in 2014, as part of a campaign to increase awareness about the world’s sixth mass extinction ― a period scientists warn we’re about to enter.

The extinction of any species is a tragedy, with effects that influence not just fragile ecosystems but people’s communities as well. And Toughie’s death serves as a reminder of the many species that have been wiped out “before we even knew that they existed,” notes Mark Mandica, who worked with the amphibian and whose young son named the frog.

Scientists did not identify Toughie’s species, Ecnomiohyla rabborum ― a type of frog known for being excellent climbers and gliders ― until 2005. That was the year a group of researchers went to central Panama in a race to collect live animals before a deadly chytrid fungus overwhelmed the region.

It’s believed the Rabbs’ frog population did not survive the hostile fungus, which has been linked to climate change and poses a serious threat to amphibian populations worldwide.

Toughie was rescued from Panama and brought to the Botanical Garden, where he lived alone in a climate-controlled facility known as the Frog Pod until his death.

The only other Rabbs’ frog known in captivity, also male, died at Zoo Atlanta in 2012.

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