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Specimen Believed to Be Extinct Found in Central America

© AP Photo / Kent GilbertMonteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica - Sputnik International
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A group of Costa Rican scientists discovered a specimen of a frog that was believed to be extinct since 2014. The discovery gives hope that the species, endemic for the Central American country, could be restored.

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The frog, scientifically known as Craugastor escoces, was found in September 2016. However, the discovery was announced only this week.

Scientists who found the animal called it Tomate (i.e., tomato) because of the characteristic bright red color of its belly.

A biologist and veterinarian from the University of Costa Rica, Gilbert Alvarado, was one of those who found the frog. In an interview with Sputnik Mundo, the scientists said he and his colleague Randall Jiménez walked through the national park Parque Nacional del Agua in search of rare species of a green-eyed frog, but found a red-bellied frog instead.

​The team carefully took the animal with them and showed it to their colleague Federico Bolaños who confirmed their assumptions. The frog was an adult female of the Craugastor escoces species that experts thought to be extinct.

The discovery was met with excitement in the academic community and the public. The frog is currently living in a laboratory under permanent monitoring.
Researchers are convinced that there are other specimens of Craugastor escoces living throughout the park.

"We want to bring good news to the country and the world: this species has been revived, and this is positive news taking into account all the harm that we, people, have been inflicting on nature," Alvarado stated.

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