Last Valentine ’s Day , Earther wrote about Romeo , the last bed Sehuencas urine frog . The poor fella has lived in a tank in Cochabamba City , Bolivia for a decade all by his lonesome and as we tactfully noted at the clip , he was among a group of animal that “ merit to bone . ”
But lonely Romeo could be in for love ( or at least boning ) after scientists made a find discovery . On Tuesday , researchers at the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny and Global Wildlife Conservation foretell they had found a Juliet in the wilderness . Now the museum is looking to kickstart a course of study that could help these wiz - frustrate lover ’ offspring finally repopulate their aboriginal ecosystem .
Romeo ’s sob story starts like a lot do in the earned run average of thesixth muckle experimental extinction . Sehuencas water frogs make their home in a thin sliver of Bolivia ’s cloud forest , the high elevation , cool cousins of lowland rainforest . They spend their intact lives in the stream that criss - cross the forest amid primordial ferns and hulk tree , making them select indicators of how hefty the ecosystem is . But logging started to constrict their habitat and chytrid — a fungus mortal to toad — spread from East Asiato other continents due to the wildlife trade . Introduced trout also snapped up some of Romeo ’s fellow Sehuencas water anuran . By the time research worker at the museum deliver Romeo a X ago , the toad were fundamentally on a path to extinction .
Despite being the last known Sehuencan water supply toad , research worker believe Romeo might not be the last one . In an crusade to ensure the survival of the species , they put up a visibility on match.com last year to raise cash in hand for a stumble to the cloud forest in lookup of a mate .
“ We had Bob Hope we would find oneself a match but we have a go at it we had a difficult occupation , ” Teresa Camacho Badani , the museum ’s chief of herpetology who has take forethought of Romeo for year , told Earther . “ I have n’t see for a frog with so much passion in my life . ”
Camacho Badani along with her fellow researchers compiled a list of all historical sitings of the diminutive amphibious aircraft and mapped them out . It turned out the ideal spot to find Romeo a partner led was where they found him a decade ago , in a mostly untouched tract of Bolivia’syungas . After batten the support of communities living in the area , researchers tromped along streams , navigating the dark understory and rocks and roots made slick by the near - changeless murk . There , they found not just a Juliet but four other Sehuencas water frog , any of which could technically get nasty but this is a beloved story , okay ?
The investigator carefully enthral all five frogs back to the museum where they ’ll begin a nascent fostering program . As part of that , they ’ll check the frogs for chytrid and do hereditary sequence to determine if any of them are immune to the disease . They ’ll also work to create just the right vibration for the frogs to do the deed of conveyance . Chris Jordan , Global Wildlife Conservation ’s regional coordinator , told Earther that experience with other endangered frog in captivity has provide valuable clues for how to set the mood , include ensure water temperatures fluctuate to copy when breeding time of year begins .
The lookup for more of Romeo ’s long suffer , remote cousins will continue in the wild until March , and the museum will continue to puzzle out with local communities to understand the frog ’s habitat need and how the raising effort in the lab is go .
“ The team is attached to help education within the community [ about conservation ] , ” Camacho Badani enunciate . “ And [ the communities ] have been really excited about this whole process . ”
It will probably take a few generations to have a viable nurture population to re-introduce to the wild . But the researchers are still hopeful Romeo and Juliet ’s story is less Shakespearean cataclysm and more Shakespearean romance , and as Jordan put it , an “ emblem ” for preservation efforts around the world .
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