Scientists Discover Super-Rare Frog “Cave Squeaker” In Zimbabwe after 54 Years

A super rare frog species that has been not witnessed since decades has recently been spotted in Zimbabwe. After some six decades, a team of scientists spotted a super rare frog in Zimbabwe‘s Chimanimani Mountains in December last year. Scientists have been searching for this rare frog species since years and after nearly 54 years, the super rare frog, called “Cave Squeaker” has been spotted in Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe.

The extremely rare frog – Arthroleptis troglodytes, is also recognized by its scientific name “cave squeaker”. Due to its preferred habitation, the founder had called the frog as cave squeaker. The frog species belongs to the Arthroleptidae family and mostly found in Zimbabwe and perhaps in Mozambique too. These little-known species prefer to live in subtropical or steamy, high-altitude grassland and caves of Zimbabwe.

This extremely rare frog is tiny, measuring only 25 mm in length. It is so small that, it can relax on two human fingers only. The tilts of the fingers and toes of this species are somewhat distended, and the coloration of its dorsal outside is light brown. It also has slightly faint speckling on the rear side of the head, alongside a dark brown back with uneven dark stripes. The arms and legs of the frog are sturdily stripy.

The frog was first discovered in 1962, and after this year, no statement about the sightings of this rare frog was reported. Earlier, an international survey report enlisted this frog species on its Red list of endangered species and also mentioned about the possible extinct of it. However, in December last year, a team of researchers, led by Robert Hopkins spotted the frog in Zimbabwe’s mountain range.

After 54 years, In February 2017, a team of scientists from the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo declared that they have found and detained four specimens of the extremely rare frog in December 2016. It is the first appearance of the frog after 1962. They have claimed to locate the specimen of the frog near the Chimanimani Mountains, a hilly area located in eastern Zimbabwe.

Now, the scientists are planning to categorize the frogs and let some of them go into the wild areas for developing their cohort.