Simon Loader News Today

These lilliputian frogs, insects, fish, and mammals might just cheer you up.

Eight years ago, a research team from the National Museums of Kenya stumbled upon an unfamiliar frog on the eastern flanks of Mount Kenya. The small green toad has now been identified: it’s not only a species new to science — it belongs to a group of toads whose origins extend back long before the […]

Up in Tanzania’s Ukaguru Mountains, researchers have found a new-to-science frog species with a unique trait: it doesn’t make a sound. The small, silent Ukaguru spiny-throated reed frog (Hyperolius ukaguruensis) doesn’t croak, chirp, sing or ribbit. “It’s a very odd group of frogs,” said Lucinda Lawson, a conservation biologist and assistant professor at the University […]

By Josh Davis First published 14 May 2021 A species of frog not seen for over 60 years is likely to be extinct. As one of the few remaining species of an ancient lineage of amphibians, its loss is a huge blow to the diversity of life. The frog, once found in the rainforest streams of Mount Elgon in Kenya, is thought to have disappeared due to the logging of the forests and the conversion of its habitat to farmland.  Warm, humid mountains tops like this are often referred to as sky islands. Set...