iNaturalist's first observation of the Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog

User @ramon_d has graciously uploaded some beautiful, never before-seen photographs of the possibly extinct Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog. These photos seem to have been taken 3 years before the species was even described, and just before the great chytrid pandemic swept through the area and extirpated many species, drove others to critical levels, and possibly drove some such as this one to extinction. As far as I can see, almost all photos of the species I can find online are of the captive individuals (including Toughie, who died, as with many other celebrities, in 2016) rescued from the area in the midst of the pandemic for an ill-fated captive breeding program. This would indicate that these might be the only photographs of the species in the wild, and possibly even the only observations of two individuals of the species together.

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Amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

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Those are very, very beautiful photos!

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You get used to that when you become aware of nature. Grief goes with the territory.

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