Famous Frog "Toughie" Dies, Sending Species to Extinction

[Flaxbee]

Yet another creature lost forever

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/toughie-rabbs-fringe-limbed-tree-frog-dies-goes-extinct/?google_editors_picks=true


And then there were none.

Toughie, the world's last Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog and a symbol of the extinction crisis, has died at his home in the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

The famed frog's age is unknown, but he's at least 12 years old, and likely older, because he was an adult when collected in 2005.

Mark Mandica, who worked with Toughie for seven years, says the frog's story isn't entirely unique. “A lot of attention had been paid to him in captivity, so he even has his own Wikipedia page,” Mandica, head of the Amphibian Foundation, notes. “But there are plenty of other species out there that are disappearing, sometimes before we even knew that they were there.”

[Loki Liesmith]

1. I hope they preserved its DNA

Maybe we can recreate it, or something like it, in the future.

[lonestarnot]

3. Poor thing.

[shenmue]

4. Rest in peace

[rumdude]

5. Sad to imagine him calling out as the last of his species

"Although he gave voice to the plight of endangered species, Toughie was silent for all the years he lived at the botanical garden, until one fateful morning in 2014 when Mandica captured the only existing example of the Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog's call.

'I heard this weird call coming out of the frog [area], and I knew it had to be him, because I knew what all the other species sounded like. I was able to sneak in and record him on my phone.'"

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. Currently, we are living during the largest extinction event ever documented...

In a challenged ecosystem, amphibians are usually the first animals to die. These animals need clean water to reproduce and nearly constant unpolluted moisture to survive, if they move into an earthy environment.

[NickB79]

14. Yep

“We're on track to lose half of all species by the end of the century,” Sartore says. “And it's folly to think that we can lose half of everything else but that people will be just fine. It's not going to work that way. As these species go, so do we.”

[roamer65]

7. We stay on our present path and one of the next extinctions will be us. N/t

[Flaxbee]

8. I wouldn't mind that, if we could wipe ourselves out before destroying every other

species on the planet - hopefully leaving something behind besides bacteria, viruses and cockroaches...

[Xolodno]

9. I'm hoping...

...there is a whole undiscovered colony out there and thriving. Its happened before, but sadly, rarely.

[Flaxbee]

10. I know. You read of individuals of supposedly 'extinct' species being discovered, thriving in

small pockets of their former territory.

We can hope.

[senz]

12. Horrible.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

13. Cheer up!

There are seven billion of us and counting!!!! Every human has a RIGHT to make as many as they want!!!!

Aren't they cute? Aren't they worth the sacrifice? All those miracles, all those bundles of joy that we can't seem to stop ourselves from creating...like the biggest mass production factory that ever existed......every human baby is a nail in the coffin of the animals.
But so worth it!!!!!

[Flaxbee]

15. And every one of us (in the "first world" at least) has a right to buy as much shit as

they want! Whether they need it or not. Whether it damages the environment or not! Wheee! Endless shit for endless humanity!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

17. Yay!!! It's awesomeness!!!!!

Go get a Sport Fertility Vehicle!!!!

Yeeehaaaawwwww!!

[Omaha Steve]

16. So sad

Thanks for posting.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. .