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Latonia nigriventer - one of the rarest amphibians in the world
the Latonia nigriventer was discovered at 1940, by the zoologist Heinrich Mendelson. he found 2 frogs, later another one was found, but after the Hula swamps (in the north of Israel) were dried - it was considered extinct. no one has seen them since the early 1950's, and at 1996 it was declared extinct by the IUCN.
BUT... Nature keeps us surprised :-)
at 2011, a Hula Park ranger found one of these frogs, in the small swamp that was kept as a nature reserve. since then, zoologists in Israel started to study this species.
today I had the good fortune to visit the Jerusalem Zoo, where a small group of these frogs are being studied, and talk to the person in charge of caring for them. it is a very hard work, they are very sensitive and gentle creatures.
the picture was taken through the terrarium glass, because we avoid disturbing these gentle frogs.
For me, this was a wonderful moment!!
The Hula painted frog is a species of frog endemic to the Lake Hula marshes in northern Israel. It is the only living member of the genus "Latonia," which is otherwise known from fossils from Europe spanning from the Oligocene through Pleistocene. The Hula painted frog was thought to be extinct as a result of habitat destruction during the 1950s until the species was rediscovered in 2011.
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no one yet knows how to distinguish male from female, what is their courting habbits, how do they mate... the caregiver told us he is learning new things about them at least once a week. Posted one year ago