#extinct frogs

[firefrostfaith]

This beautiful diva is the Quito Rocket frog. It lives in Ecuador, in forests, grasslands, or rivers.

The Quito Rocket frog was once quite common in this region, but now, due to habitat change and disease, it is on the verge of extinction. As of 2019, there were about 100 of these cuties left on the planet.

These frogs live near a volcano, Cotopaxi’s Summit. Recently, this volcano has awakened yet again, after many years of inactivity. This is the reason why scientists and researchers have been sent to find these frogs and bring them to safety. They are hard to find, though, so these scientists have to imitate their mating call, get a response back, and track said response.

Right now, it is thanks to said teams of scientists and researchers that many of our world’s beautiful species are being preserved, including the Quito Rocket frog.

[joolzfashion]

These little froggies are all endangered, or already extinct. Why create a print featuring extinct frogs? Well - apart from them being extremely cute little critters - because thin-skinned frogs live both on land and in the water, they are biological indicators of the planet’s health - frogs are the canaries in our coal mine. Amphibians have been around 250 million years - they’ve outlived the dinosaurs. But in the last few decades, they’ve been disappearing. Not everyone is a fan of little froggies but they are pretty awesome - they do a huge job keeping insect populations under control, including malaria-carrying mosquitoes, for example. I just wanted to give them a new platform to remind folks that preserving wetlands and wild country is incredibly important.