The Quito rocket frog (Hyloxalus jacobuspetersi) disappeared before it even got a name. It was first described for science in 1991, but it wasn’t spotted after 1989, with some scientists claiming that no one had laid eyes on them since the 1960’s. Story goes that it was once widespread across the Ecuadorian Andes, jumping from stream […]
First Person
From saddle cover to media sensation: the story of the yellow-tailed woolly monkey
During his famous 5 year-long expedition to Latin America (1799-1804), Alexander von Humboldt collected, together with his naturalist partner, Aimé Bonpland, around 60,000 plant specimens and an unknown number of animal specimens that we can safely assume to be in the thousands. Some of these specimens were being shown and described to the scientific world […]
Un-masking the true identity of the Tasman Booby
Remote volcanic islands, ancient bones, scientists and a species brought back from the dead. It might sound like a Jurassic Park rip-off but this is the story of how a diverse team of researchers un-covered the fate of the Tasman Booby. Unearthing history On Lord Howe Island, the husk of an old volcano 1600km east […]
Now you see it, now you don’t: the troubled tale of the estuarine pipefish
The estuarine pipefish, has been playing a frightening game of hide-and-seek for decades. Not only was this pipefish thought to be extinct once, it was feared to have disappeared from the world a second time… only to be discovered yet again by scientists. You may wonder, just as we did, why this species has been […]
Finding inspiration in rediscovery
I love what I do. I’ve been a naturalist since childhood, and I was lucky enough to grow up in the wilds of west Dorset where the woodlands, coastlines and hills gave me everything I needed to explore my fascination with wildlife and the natural world. In school, the only subject which interested me was […]
On the path of the Spreadwing
We were threading on a narrow foot path, running across a rainforest leading to the Adam’s Peak mountain, the most sacred mountain in Sri Lanka and the fourth highest in the country. Our team of five naturalists was ascending the mountain slowly as we were frequently held by interesting animals, beautiful sceneries of forests, mountains […]
Searching for the Santa Marta Toro: A tale of a Roach & a Rat
Off the coast of northern Colombia lies a formidable mountain, which towers over the small Caribbean city of Santa Marta. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) is the tallest coastal mountain range in the world, rising from sea level to over 5,700 m. Older than the Andes, the Sierra Nevada’s dramatic topography has made […]
Searching for the Southern Sea Otter
This is an oldie but goodie for the Lost and Found archives. In a letter dated February 2nd, 1915 to the California Department of Fish and Game, lighthouse keeper John W. Astrom reported on a small southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) population of the coast of Big Sur. Little did Mr. Astrom know that […]
Worth losing a finger for: the Anatolian meadow viper
The Anatolian meadow viper was always an enigmatic species. It belongs to the same group as many widespread vipers, such as the common adder. However, unlike the common adder, which is distributed across Europe and Northern Asia, the Anatolian meadow viper lives only at the top of the Ciglikara mountain plateau, in south-west Turkey. Since […]