The thumbnail-sized golden colored Kihansi Spray Toad, only discovered by scientists in 1996, was officially declared Extinct in the Wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2009.
But thanks to a captive breeding program begun in 2000, the amphibian has been reestablished in its only known habitat, beneath a waterfall’s continuous spray in south-central Tanzania. From a collection of 499 toads saved in the wild by the University of Dar Salaam, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Bronx Zoo and Toledo Zoo have multiplied the captive population to more than 6,000. This week, more than two thousand of the tiny toads were reintroduced to their wet native habitat, at the base of the Kihansi Gorge.
There is “reason for some optimism” for the UK economy, the Bank of England’s deputy governor Charlie Bean said after last week’s GDP figures showed production expanded by 1%.
