Scientists who found the animal called it Tomate (i.e., tomato) because of the characteristic bright red color of its belly.
A biologist and veterinarian from the University of Costa Rica, Gilbert Alvarado, was one of those who found the frog. In an interview with Sputnik Mundo, the scientists said he and his colleague Randall Jiménez walked through the national park Parque Nacional del Agua in search of rare species of a green-eyed frog, but found a red-bellied frog instead.
El redescubrimiento de esta especie endémica de Costa Rica "Craugastor escoces" se dio en el Parque Nacional Juan Castro Blanco, en Alajuela pic.twitter.com/k0vc8My0m1
— UCR (@UniversidadCR) 6 июня 2017 г.
The team carefully took the animal with them and showed it to their colleague Federico Bolaños who confirmed their assumptions. The frog was an adult female of the Craugastor escoces species that experts thought to be extinct.
The discovery was met with excitement in the academic community and the public. The frog is currently living in a laboratory under permanent monitoring.
Researchers are convinced that there are other specimens of Craugastor escoces living throughout the park.
"We want to bring good news to the country and the world: this species has been revived, and this is positive news taking into account all the harm that we, people, have been inflicting on nature," Alvarado stated.
