Best of our wild blogs: 17 Jul 11

Pangolin (scaly anteater) carcass at Sixth Avenue today
from Otterman speaks

Harry Potter and the Owls of Singapore
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Rich reefs of Kusu Island
from wild shores of singapore and Singapore Nature

Mud Lobster in Crab hole
from Urban Forest

Other Critters @ USR
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

16 Jul (Sat): Sharing about Singapore's seagrasses
from teamseagrass

Nest of the Brown-throated Sunbird
from Bird Ecology Study Group and Janice Kwek’s Olive-backed Sunbirds

110715 Rifle Range Road, Nangka trail
from Singapore Nature

110715 Cyrene Reef
from Singapore Nature

Undergrad opportunity: Forest field assistant required
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

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Meet the weekend tomb explorers

Brothers Raymond and Charles Goh visit cemeteries to unearth history
Huang Lijie Straits Times 17 Jul 11;

Weekends spent among dead people may seem a spooky pursuit, but brothers Raymond and Charles Goh have found historical gemstones among tombstones.

The duo are neither mediums nor ghostbusters, but passionate tomb explorers who enjoy unearthing Singapore's history through graves.

One recent case after a three-year search was their discovery of the tomb, in Bukit Brown Cemetery, of Madam Tan Eng Neo, whom Eng Neo Avenue is named after.

For the siblings, finding where the wife of wealthy Chinese businessman Gaw Boon Chan was buried was fulfilling, and not just because it marked the end of their longest quest for a tomb.

Raymond, 47, the older brother, said: 'We want people to know that Bukit Brown Cemetery is where many Singapore pioneers have been buried and to appreciate it, not bulldoze it.'

The 86ha graveyard off Lornie Road was in the news recently after heritage activists petitioned for a rethink of the redevelopment of one of Singapore's oldest remaining burial grounds to meet housing needs.

To keep alive the memory of famous pioneers buried at the cemetery, the brothers conduct regular guided tours of the area. Those who have signed up include students, young professionals and retirees.

The duo also provide a free map which includes the locations of the tombs of more than 30 famous pioneers such as businessman Chew Boon Lay, who has an MRT station, school and housing estate named after him.

The map is on the website of the Asia Paranormal Investigators - www.api.sg - founded in 2005 by Charles to research unexplained phenomena.

The brothers' interest in tombs began in 2006 after Raymond, the regional director of a health-care company, accompanied his father to his grandfather's grave at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery.

'It was my first visit and I had a shock when I saw my name on the tombstone.

'It came to me, out of the blue, that I'm related to this grave,' said the father of three children, aged 10 to 17.

His interest piqued, he began poring over books on tomb culture and visiting cemeteries at the weekend, walking stick in hand to fend off spiders and even snakes to look for unusual tombstones.

Raymond's tomb fever got to Charles, who had some knowledge of the subject through his research on urban myths of haunted graves.

Charles, 43, a construction company safety manager who is married without children, said: 'When Raymond finds an interesting tombstone, he is so excited he cleans it with his towel, then forgets and wipes his face with the cloth.'

They dig into the past of the tombs they find using information engraved on the tombstones, as well as newspaper and land deed archives.

They sometimes spend a few hundred dollars on archive material when researching a tomb but Raymond says their passion 'cannot be measured in money terms'.

They say their families are supportive of their unusual pursuit.

'Only our mother, who is superstitious, urges us not to visit the cemeteries at night or during the Hungry Ghost Festival,' said Raymond. But not being superstitious, the siblings have not heeded her advice.

When historical records that they chance upon reveal the burial of a famous person in a particular cemetery, their search becomes tougher. The hunt for Madam Tan's tomb, for example, was the proverbial needle in a haystack, with 80,000 tombstones at Bukit Brown.

Families eager to trace their roots or find the resting places of their ancestors have approached the brothers for help, and the duo gladly offer to reunite the living and the dead for free.

Those they have helped include the descendents of businessman Ang Seah Im, after whom Seah Im Road, near VivoCity, is named. The pioneer's tomb is located in Bukit Brown.

Raymond said: 'I feel sad and pained when I see tombs that are not taken care of by descendants. The dead should not be abandoned.'

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Malaysia: Move to save terrapins

Farik Zolkepli The Star 17 Jul 11;

SETIU: WWF Malaysia is concerned over the habit of people eating turtle eggs in the state.

The foundation's Terengganu Turtle Conservation team leader Rahayu Zulkifli said the cooperation of the people as well as tourists was essential in order to remove terrapin eggs from the menu.

She said WWF Malaysia was alarmed that certain tourist guides still promoted the eating of terrapin eggs.

“I was informed that the guides would casually remind tourists not to miss the chance to eat the eggs while they are in Terengganu,” she told The Star yesterday.

Rahayu said her team of researchers, volunteers as well as forest rangers were working hard to save the painted terrapin or tuntung, which has been classified as critically endangered.

“If the demand for the eggs diminishes, then we can ensure the terrapin population is saved,” she added.

Rahayu said if the advice not to eat turtle eggs was not heeded, the painted terrapins could share the same fate as the famous leatherback turtles of Rantau Abang.

“In the past, leatherback turtles were commonly sighted there.

“In the 1950s, the number of turtles nests was about 10,000, but the number decreased to less than 10 in 2010.

“No sighting has been recorded so far this year,” she said, adding that WWF Malaysia feared the turtles might have become extinct.

Rahayu also said the Setiu Wetlands was now considered the last global frontier for painted terrapins.

“In 1993, a total of 200 nests were discovered, but that went down to 67 last year,” she added.

She said WWF Malaysia had made efforts in its conservation work since 2009 to save the painted terrapins.

Among them were the egg buy-back scheme, whereby the foundation buys terrapins eggs from licensed egg collectors, and the creation of awareness programmes for the locals, especially in Kampung Mangkok and Kampung Penarik.

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Indonesian Ministry employs 5,000 preachers to preserve forests

The Jakarta Post 17 Jul 11;

The Forestry Ministry will dispatch 5,000 Muslim preachers in its latest move to campaign against forest destruction, citing the rampant case of illegal logging involving local communities.

“Our forests don’t go up in flames on their own, but are intentionally burned because there is this tradition of burning the land after harvest and before planting, which has now also affected forest areas,” Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said Sunday in Yogyakarta.

He was speaking during the national working meeting of the propagation assembly of the central executive board of Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah.

The minister called on the Muslim scholars to support the campaign against forest burning, as well as to promote forest preservation and reforestation efforts.

The 5,000 Muslim preachers are being recruited from a number of Muslim organizations. They will be given relevant trainings and will be paid about Rp 2 million (US$234) per month.

The program is set to begin later this year and last throughout 2012.

Muhammadiyah propagation assembly committee head Agus Sukoco said 95 Muhammadiyah preachers were ready to participate in the program, tempointeraktif.com reported.

The Forestry Ministry will dispatch 5,000 Muslim preachers in its latest move to campaign against forest destruction, citing the rampant case of illegal logging involving local communities.

“Our forests don’t go up in flames on their own, but are intentionally burned because there is this tradition of burning the land after harvest and before planting, which has now also affected forest areas,” Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said Sunday in Yogyakarta.

He was speaking during the national working meeting of the propagation assembly of the central executive board of Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah.

The minister called on the Muslim scholars to support the campaign against forest burning, as well as to promote forest preservation and reforestation efforts.

The 5,000 Muslim preachers are being recruited from a number of Muslim organizations. They will be given relevant trainings and will be paid about Rp 2 million (US$234) per month.

The program is set to begin later this year and last throughout 2012.

Muhammadiyah propagation assembly committee head Agus Sukoco said 95 Muhammadiyah preachers were ready to participate in the program, tempointeraktif.com reported.

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Best of our wild blogs: 16 Jul 11

Jurong reclamation near Cyrene Reef begins
from wild shores of singapore

Moonlight trip to Cyrene
from wild shores of singapore

“Citizen science and the monitoring of hornbills in Singapore”
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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What have dinosaurs got to do with Singapore?

Museum's $12m pursuit of dino skeletons from US makes no sense
Ong Sor Fern Straits Times 16 Jul 11;

I HAVE been musing about price versus value recently, more specifically about the price of art versus its value to a community. As a lifelong arts lover, my instinct is always to defend the value of the arts and to declare that it is impossible to put a price on it.

But, as with everything in this modern world, price tags have become a handy soundbite with which to grab a viewer's attention. And catching people's attention is, as even hallowed institutions such as museums have found out, an essential KPI (key performance indicator) in these busy times.

Spending money to buy attention is easy. Just look at the recent brouhaha over the Tang treasures collection which came with a US$32 million (S$39 million) price tag. My own attention was snagged last Sunday when The Sunday Times reported that Singapore's new natural history museum is hoping to raise $12 million to buy a trio of dinosaur skeletons.

My first instinctive reaction was dismay. What do dinosaurs have to do with Singapore's natural history, I thought. And that $12 million could fund an awful lot of other things at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.

Now I confess I'm no natural history buff. But I have enjoyed the curator's tour at the Raffles Museum and it opened my eyes to the staggering wealth of natural resources in South-east Asia.

The museum owns about 500,000 specimens of animals, the largest collection of South-east Asian wildlife in the region. All I could think of when I saw the enthusiasm and dedication of the staff, who guided packed tours through their cramped libraries of specimens, was: 'How can a country as materially wealthy as Singapore fail to dedicate proper financial support to such a crucial part of our national heritage?'

Of course that question was answered handsomely last year when it was announced that the Raffles Museum has managed to raise $46 million to build a spanking new home, designed by acclaimed homegrown architect Mok Wei Wei no less, to house the collection.

About time, I rejoiced. But having struggled so hard to win funds, why is the museum now chasing a $12 million set of dinosaur bones?

The jaded journalist in me recognises that dinosaurs are a guaranteed surefire hit. I had been told that dinosaurs and mummies are no-brainer winners when it comes to ratings, which explains why the National Geographic, History and Discovery cable channels are perennially trotting out specials and documentaries on these topics.

But the museum aficionado in me rebelled: $12 million is a little over a quarter of what it cost to build the museum, and just for one display?

Think what that amount could do for the rest of the collection.

I have no doubt the custodians at Raffles Museum have taken good care of the collection but it was, at one point, shunted pillar to post like an unwanted orphan, losing some precious exemplars in the process. Surely the money could go towards careful restoration and loving care as well as creating even better showcases and proper curation once the new building opens?

I am sure money will be needed to run the place and dollars could also be invested in grooming the curators and scholars who are the intellectual backbone of any museum aspiring to international repute.

The funds could also be used to create educational materials based on the collection. I would love to see a large format book, a la John James Audubon's gorgeous works, documenting the collection with annotated essays, colour illustrations and plates. I would buy a book like this in a heartbeat. But this sort of project takes time, money and other resources too.

No doubt the trio of dinosaur skeletons are important relics. There is speculation that it is a family, and the set is more than 80 per cent complete. Whatever.

They do not make sense to me as they are not even found in the region - they are from Wyoming in the United States.

To me, the pursuit of the bones is just the latest in a series of programming decisions in Singapore museums which signal what seems like a disheartening intellectual and spiritual vacuum. I wonder if the pursuit of such blockbuster exhibitions has come at too high a cost in terms of a lack of curatorial discipline and intellectual heft about Singapore's own culture, heritage and history.

For example, the National Museum of Singapore's most memorable exhibitions recently have been retrospectives of Iranian photographer Abbas and Taiwanese film-maker Edward Yang. I admire their works, and I do acknowledge it was a coup to land the Abbas retrospective.

But where are the thought-provoking exhibits about Singapore's history? I have been through the history gallery all of once and all I remember is hating the maze-like layout and struggling with the clumsy audio companion. The story the gallery told did not register with me at all. I left feeling dissatisfied.

And the Living Galleries at the museum were also a disappointment, except for the one dedicated to Fashion. Now that gallery was a successful fusion of pop culture, sociology and history. I loved that the artefacts in that gallery - dresses, shoes, make-up, music - gave me an insight into how women played a crucial part in Singapore's development in the years after independence, how their roles in society changed and how something so frivolous as clothes reflected their changing status.

For me, a museum is not simply about the blockbuster shows although those are nice to have. But anyone can buy a show. Fewer people can tell me a good story about my home and show me something surprising about Singapore. That, to me, is what a museum should do. They are the custodians of Singapore's best stories and they should strive to tell it as well as they can. And that is something to be valued beyond any price.

Is plan to buy $12m fossils justified?
Sunday Times 17 Jul 11;

I refer to last Sunday's report, 'Museum's $12m race for dino family', on the plan to raise $12 million to purchase three dinosaur fossils for Singapore's new natural history museum.

Why would the museum seek to acquire such specimens when they would most likely not be significant to its collection, which is mainly of South-east Asian origin?

If the fossils are acquired, would this be the start of a new direction in palaeontology research for the museum? Wouldn't the funds be better spent on expanding the museum's collection, or on future exhibitions and research, among other things?

If the deal goes through, the museum would gain prestige by owning such scientifically valuable fossils, but if these do not fit into the collection or any of the museum's research areas, I do not see the justification for acquiring them.

Abdul Hakim Abdul Rahim

Related articles
Why we need dinos The $12m skeletons are worth having for their power to inspire and awe Ignatius Low Sunday Times 17 Jul 11;

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Malaysia: Local councils to help curb haze

R. Sittamparam and Masami Mustaza
New Straits Times 15 Jul 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Environment is teaming up with local authorities to reduce the haze by curbing local sources, including open burning and smoke emissions from industrial areas.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said yesterday they hoped to work towards improving the haze situation by managing land with peat soil, especially the three million hectares in Selangor, Pahang, Johor and Sarawak.

"These areas are potential hotspots for fires.


"Peat soil is highly combustible when dry, so we need to raise the water levels as the soil is a fire hazard that can burn almost indefinitely or until its fuel is exhausted.

"Once ignited, the fire can reach about 10m into the ground and it will be hard to put out the flames.

"Sometimes, it can burn for months," he said after opening the ministry's sports meet here yesterday.


Uggah said the haze situation yesterday morning had improved and none of the DOE's 50 air-quality monitoring stations showed unhealthy readings.

"We are monitoring the land with peat soil, especially the fire-prone areas of Tanjung 12 and Johan Setia in Klang, Selangor, and in Pahang and Sarawak.

"We have set up three manned observation towers for early detection of hotspots and 19 tube wells to raise water levels, as well as 100 check dams to prevent the draining of water at these peat soil areas."


Uggah said his ministry's standard operating procedure to beat the haze was well in place and it would resort to cloud seeding as an emergency measure should the dry spell and haze persist.

He said the trans-boundary Asean Ministerial Steering Committee on haze, which will meet on Aug 18 and 19 in Thailand, had taken many positive steps in addressing the haze problem across borders.

"We've been talking about setting up a rapid fire fighting team to move speedily within Asean countries without the hindrance of bureaucracy and border issues."

Nationwide air quality improving
The Star 16 Jul 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: The air quality is reported to be improving throughout the country, with the Air Pollutant Index (API) showing better readings on Saturday compared to Friday.

According to the Environment Department's website, 69 percent of API readings were at good levels this morning while the rest were moderate.

At 5pm on Friday, 48 per cent of API readings were good, 48 percent moderate and four percent unhealthy.

Several areas in Perak recorded moderate air quality including in Seri Manjung (71), Kampung Air Putih, Taiping (69), Jalan Tasek Ipoh (67) and S.K. Jalan Pagoh (66).

Several areas which recorded unhealty air quality on Saturday evening such as Cheras (110) and Seri Manjung (104), returned to good and moderate levels with readings of 36 and 71 respectively.

API readings of between 0-50 are categorised as good, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 (very unhealthy) and 300 (hazardous). - Bernama

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For the love of dolphins: NGOs to launch heated campaign in Phuket

Phuket Gazette 16 Jul 11;

PHUKET: The heads of two non-government organizations were in Phuket this weekend to announce the start of a partnership campaign to halt plans to build a "dolphinarium" as part of a resort and tourism complex in Rawai.

Mark Berman of the US-based Earth Island Institute and Edwin Wiek of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) stopped by the Phuket Gazette offices today to drop off a copy of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove, which they plan to translate into Thai and distribute among the local media, schools and government agencies.

The pair said their two groups would work together domestically and internationally to fight a plan by Canadian investor Daniel McDaniel to build a tourism attraction that would include a dolphin show.

Both men feel it is unethical to keep dolphins in captivity and that dolphin shows are dying out in the West as more people learn about how the mammals are captured in the wild, which is the subject of The Cove.

Mr Berman said he plans to return to Phuket with former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry to encourage Thais to attend free showings of The Cove in order to raise local awareness of the issue.

Mr Wiek, a Dutchman who has lived in Thailand for over two decades and is fluent in Thai, will lead the fight locally in Phuket, preparing a version of the film with Thai subtitles and using the media to spread the message.

The development planned for Rawai is not the first time people have tried to import dolphins as part of a tourism related business, he said.

The first was about 12 or 13 years ago by an American man. Then, about three years ago, a Dutchwoman wanted to use dolphins for the treatment of autism in children.

"I understand that some people think that zoos and dolphinariums are still a thing of this time, but scientific research has not proven that it works. I don't know what this gentleman's argument is that it will be good for Phuket.

"From a financial point of view I am sure it could make a profit, especially with so many tourists coming in from Russia and China who love this sort of thing, but from an ethical point of view I don't think it's right to take animals from the wild and put them into tanks to entertain people," Mr Wiek said.

As for claims that as many as 1,000 jobs could be created, he said most of those would probably go to low-wage workers from Burma who build the project.

Mr Wiek emphasized that there was no basis for comparison between keeping domestic dogs and holding dolphins in captivity.

"Dogs are bred. They couldn't survive without people, and they aren't endangered either. These animals [dolphins] are in some cases highly endangered, and the way they are taken out of the wild is horrific," he said.

Mr Berman said he had already met with the Thai Food Processors Association's tuna group in Bangkok.

Association members told him they adhere to the Earth Island Institute dolphin-safe policy so they can export canned tuna.

"It's one of the top five industries in this country, a multi-billion dollar industry. We told them they face the wrath of a possible international boycott if they do this. They can't claim to be dolphin-safe if the government of Thailand is allowing trade in live dolphins. It doesn't work."

His group stopped a similar scheme to import dolphins to Thailand from the Solomon Islands in 2008 and was lining up support from other international NGOs for this latest campaign, he said.

When told that Mr McDaniel had already been given several chances to state his right of reply on why the project was good for Thailand, Mr Berman said:

"This man can sit in the shadows if he wants, because they know what they are doing is not acceptable. But we are going to challenge him to a public debate. All he wants to do is make money from this deal; that's all it is. There is nothing educational about captive dolphins. It has been proven behind Ric O'Barry's work."

Mr Berman said the Earth Island Institute would call for a boycott on Thai tourism as well if the import of dolphins is allowed.

Mr Wiek was less enthusiastic about this approach, saying such a call might be impractical and cast his group as obstructionist.

His group would rather work at the local level to raise awareness about the issues involved, he said.

"We want to see dolphins living free in the waters around Phuket, not on the island itself," he said.

– Stephen Michael Fein

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Threatened snow leopards found in Afghanistan

Denis D. Gray Associated Press Yahoo News 15 Jul 11;

BANGKOK (AP) — A healthy population of snow leopards, elusive big cats threatened across the mountain ranges of Central Asia, has been found in one of the few peaceful areas of Afghanistan, a wildlife group said.

Camera traps documented the secretive, usually solitary animals at 16 locations across the Wakhan Corridor, a long panhandle in northeastern Afghanistan free from the insurgency that plagues most of the country, the World Conservation Society said in a statement seen Friday.

Listed as globally threatened, only some 4,500 to 7,500 snow leopards live across a dozen nations in the high mountain ranges of Central Asia. The cats are poached for their pelts and killed by shepherds guarding their flocks upon which the leopards sometimes prey.

The sleek, fuzzy-tailed leopards are also captured for the pet trade, while an increasing demand for their penises and bones in China, where some believe they enhance sexual performance, has also led to their decimation.

"This is a wonderful discovery. It shows that there is real hope for snow leopards in Afghanistan. Now our goal is to ensure that these magnificent animals have a secure future as part of Afghanistan's natural heritage," Peter Zahler, the World Conservation Society's deputy Asia director, said in the statement.

The New York-based group has been working in the Wakhan Corridor, which borders China, Pakistan and Tajikistan, since 2006 on protecting wildlife including the Marco Polo sheep and the ibex. George Schaller, a wildlife biologist with the society, has proposed creating a reserve in the region.

The statement, released Wednesday, did not estimate the number of leopards in the corridor, but said the species remained threatened.

The society, which works with the U.S. government's aid arm, USAID, is providing conservation education in every Wakhan school, has trained 59 rangers to monitor wildlife, constructed predator-proof livestock corrals and started an insurance scheme to compensate shepherds for livestock taken by predators, according to the statement.

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China oil spill six times size of Singapore: govt

AFP Google News 15 Jul 11;

BEIJING — A huge oil spill off the Chinese coast has now contaminated an area around six times the size of Singapore, state media reported Friday, as the government said it may seek compensation for the leak.

The spill from the oil field, which the United States' ConocoPhillips operates with China's state-run oil giant CNOOC, has polluted a total area of almost 4,250 square kilometres (1,650 square miles), government figures showed.

The figures, which were announced on the State Oceanic Administration website earlier this week but only reported on Friday, were almost five times the size of the 840-square-kilometre area previously reported.

The administration says that area remains worst affected by the spill, but that another 3,400 square kilometres have also been contaminated to a lesser degree by the oil.

The spill was kept secret by the authorities for several weeks before being made public this month, sparking suspicions of an official cover-up, and the disaster has triggered a furious public response in China.

State media said the government was considering seeking compensation from ConocoPhillips over the spill.

"We have made an initial plan to claim compensation from ConocoPhillips China," the business daily 21st Century Business Herald quoted an unnamed official from the State Oceanic Administration as saying.

"But whether and how it will be implemented still depends on the status of plugging the leak."

CNOOC said last week the spill was "basically under control" while ConocoPhillips told reporters the leaks had been plugged.

But on Wednesday the oceanic administration said oil was still leaking into the ocean and ordered ConocoPhillips to stop operations at several rigs in the polluted area until the source of the spill was fully plugged.

"There has been oil seeping continuously into the sea for days from platforms B and C in the Penglai 19-3 oilfield and there is still a slick in the surrounding marine areas," it said in a statement.

"Another spill could happen at any time, which has posed a huge threat to the oceanic ecological environment."

CNOOC has been slammed by state media and green groups over the spill, and it emerged on Tuesday that the firm was cleaning up another slick after a breakdown at a rig off the northeast coast.

ConocoPhillips said Thursday the spill was the equivalent of 1,500 barrels of oil.

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Best of our wild blogs: 15 Jul 11

abandoned seacil @ Labrador Nature Reserve 13July2011
from sgbeachbum

Colourful Changi
from wild shores of singapore and Singapore Nature

Trekking along the Choo-Choo Corridor
from Butterflies of Singapore

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'Lost' Rainbow Toad Rediscovered After 87 Years

Jeanna Bryner LiveScience.com Yahoo News 14 Jul 11;

After months of scouring remote forests in Borneo, researchers spotted three rainbow toads up a tree, snapping the first-ever photographs of this elusive amphibian species that hadn't been seen for 87 years, scientists announced today (July 13).

Last seen in 1924, the Bornean rainbow toad (Ansonia latidisca) had been listed as one of the world's top 10 most wanted lost frogs, or those that hadn't been seen in at least a decade. Conservation scientists thought the chances of spotting the spindly-legged toad were slim.

In fact, until this rediscovery, scientists had only seen illustrations of the mysterious and long-legged toad existed, after collection by European explorers in the 1920s. [See images of lost rainbow toad]

"When I saw an email with the subject 'Ansonia latidisca found' pop into my inbox I could barely believe my eyes," said Robin Moore of Conservation International, adding that an attached image proved the unbelievable finding. "The species was transformed in my mind from a black and white illustration to a living, colorful creature." (Moore launched the campaign the Global Search for Lost Amphibians.)

Three individuals of the missing toad, including an adult female, adult male and a juvenile, were documented up three different trees in Penrissen, a region outside the protected area system of Sarawak, which is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. The toads ranged in size from 1.2 inches (30 millimeters) for the juvenile to 2.0 inches (51 mm) for the adult female. All three sported long, skinny limbs and bright skin pigments. [Mug Shots: Top 10 Lost Amphibians]

Initial searches by Indraneil Das of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and colleagues took place during evenings after dark along the high rugged ridges of the Gunung Penrissen range of Western Sarawak. The first few months proved fruitless; so the team decided to include higher elevations in their search. And one night last August on of Das' graduate students, Pui Yong Min, found one of the three gangly toads up a tree.

If you want to see newly rediscovered frog, however, it's probably best to look at the photos, as Das has said he won't divulge the exact site of the rediscovery right now, owing to the intense demand for brightly-colored amphibians by those involved in the pet trade.

The effort was part of the global search for lost amphibians by Conservation International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Amphibian Specialist Group, with support from Global Wildlife Conservation. The large search involved 126 researchers who scoured areas in 21 countries, on five continents, between August and December 2010.

The hope was to determine whether the lost amphibians had survived increasing pressures, such as habitat loss, climate change and disease — a fungus that causes the infectious disease chytridomycosis is devastating amphibian populations worldwide.

The only other member of the Top 10 list that has been rediscovered is the spotted stubfoot toad (Atelopus balios), which is restricted to a very small area in southwestern Ecuador.

The rediscovered Borneo species is listed as Endangered by the IUCN's Red List.

Borneo toad spotted for 1st time in 87 years
AP Yahoo News 14 Jul 11;

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Scientists scouring the mountains of Borneo spotted a species of toads last seen by European explorers in 1924, providing the world with the first photographs of the colorful, spindly legged creature, a researcher said Thursday.

In recent years, the Washington-based Conservation International placed the Sambas Stream Toad, also known as the Bornean Rainbow Toad, on a list of the world's "Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs" and voiced fears that it might be extinct.

Researchers found three of the slender-limbed toads living on trees during a night search last month in a remote mountainous region of Malaysia's eastern Sarawak state in Borneo, said Indraneil Das, a conservation professor at the Sarawak Malaysia University who led the expedition.

Only illustrations of the toads previously existed. Das said his team first decided to seek the toad last August, but months of searching proved fruitless until they went higher up the Penrissen mountain range, which has rarely been explored in the past century.

"It is good to know that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planet's escalating extinction crisis," Robin Moore, a specialist on amphibians at Conservation International, said in a statement announcing the discovery.

The toads found on three separate trees measured up to 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) in size and comprised an adult male, an adult female and a juvenile, the statement said.

Das declined to reveal the exact site of his team's discovery because of fears of illegal poaching due to strong demand for bright-hued amphibians. Researchers will continue work to find out more about the Borneo Rainbow Toad and other amphibians in Penrissen.

Conservationists say many endangered animals in Borneo are threatened by hunting and habitat loss sparked by logging, plantations and other human development.

http://www.conservation.org/campaigns/lost_frogs/Pages/search_for_lost_amphibians.aspx

Lost rainbow toad is rediscovered
BBC News 14 Jul 11;

A colourful, spindly-legged toad that was believed to be extinct has been rediscovered in the forests of Borneo.

Scientists from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) found three of the missing long-legged Borneo rainbow toads up a tree during a night time search.

The team had spent months scouring remote mountain forests for the species.

Prior to these images, only illustrations of the toad had existed.

These were drawn from specimens that were collected by European explorers in the 1920s.

Conservation International, which launched its Global Search for Lost Amphibians in 2010, had listed the toad as one of the "world's top 10 most wanted frogs".

Dr Indraneil Das led a team that searched the ridges of the Gunung Penrissen range of Western Sarawak, a boundary between Malaysia's Sarawak State and Indonesia's Kalimantan Barat Province.

After several months of night-long expeditions, one of Dr Das's graduate students eventually spotted a small toad in the high branches of a tree.

Lost hope

"Thrilling discoveries like this beautiful toad, and the critical importance of amphibians to healthy ecosystems, are what fuel us to keep searching for lost species," said Dr Das.

"They remind us that nature still holds precious secrets that we are still uncovering."

Dr Robin Moore of Conservation International, who launched the Global Search for Lost Amphibians, was delighted by the discovery.

He said: "To see the first pictures of a species that has been lost for almost 90 years defies belief.

"It is good to know that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planet's escalating extinction crisis.

"Amphibians are at the forefront of this tragedy, so I hope that these unique species serve as flagships for conservation, inspiring pride and hope by Malaysians and people everywhere."

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