The Golden Toad

Deb H sent me the accompanying photo for publication in the blog. I was pretty intrigued after seeing it because I had never before seen a toad that looked like it. I figured it may have been a photoshop type job. After some searching around on the Internet, I found what was pretty much the same photograph (the one here is cropped somewhat from the other). It was labeled as a Golden Toad. I had seen golden toads, at least their pics, before and this one's coloration did not look like any I had ever seen previously. It may indeed be a photo of a golden toad but my guess would be one in which the colors have been enhanced. If those are the natural colors of the particular toad in the photo all I can say is WOW!

A little info on the Golden Toad (Bufo periglenes): Sadly, it may be extinct and it has been listed as such. According to a Wikipedia article on them, the last individual of the species was last seen in 1989 in their native Monteverde Region of Costa Rica. Their decline is believed to possibly have been due to spread of the chytrid fungus. My guess is there were no breeding captive populations due to such restrictions as those of CITES. Too bad, it may not have gone extinct had it been widely available in the herp trade. Of course, there is always hope that there are still wild populations of it that have remained undiscovered.

All the best,
Glenn B