Borneo Rainbow Toad -New Hope For The Ecosystem
It is not unusual for previously thought extinct or near-extinct species to be suddenly rediscovered after a long hiatus of non-sightings. An example is the Borneo Rainbow Toad, also known as the Sambas Stream Toad. Once thought to have been lost forever, having been last seen in 1924 in Borneo, and then only by 3 persons, an international team led by Malaysian researcher Indraneil Das had to search for months after dark in the mountainous slopes of the jungles of Sarawak in Borneo before finally seeing this small rare specimen of Borneo Rainbow Toad up a tree. Subsequently the team found 2 more Rainbow Toads in different trees.
The Borneo Rainbow Toad is listed as one of the Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs by CI (the Virginia-based Conservational International). CI said in a statement that this discovery gave hope that more endangered and rare species that had not been seen in a decade could be refound and at the very least confirmed not to be extinct.
Toads are amphibians. Amphibians are thought to be of great significance to the ecosystem because of their place in the food chain, being both prey to vertebrates and invertebrates as well as consumers in the food chain especially when they are young, and being consumers as adults as well in the food chain. Adult amphibians are thought to be the best biological pest controllers. Because of this importance in the ecosystem, any decline or extinction of the amphibians is thought to impact the survival of other living creatures around them. Any slight change in the environment may also affect the survival of amphibians such as toads.