In 1996, the hula painted frog was the first amphibian species to be deemed extinct by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
A recent study, however, has confirmed that fifteen years later, it was discovered in Israel ‘very much alive,” according to biologists.
Prior to being discovered in Northern Israel’s Hula Valley, the hula-painted frog (latonia nigriventer) had not been spotted alive in nearly 60 years. Most scientists had agreed that its species had been wiped away from the earth.
The frog, believed to have no living relatives, is a unique specimen and considered a ‘living fossil,’ an organism which occupies the same shape for over millions of years.
Since the initial discovery by Professor Sarig Gafny of The Ruppin Academic Center in Michmoret, Israel, and his team, there have been close to fifteen sightings of the hula-painted frog. In fact, Gafny believes there are well over a hundred in Hula Valley.
Some fossils of the latonia species of frog found in Northern Israel have been as old as two million years.
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