# @rewild on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DA33bYzJceF
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/23933928-rewild-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/9d37bd541c.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-10-08T18:17:19.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Re:wild (@rewild) — https://gondola.cc/rewild

## Caption

This frog was last seen in 1922—for context, that's five years before television was invented. Thanks to an expedition led by fundacion_amaruec with local partners, the Molleturo Robber Frog (known locally as "Cutín de Molleturo") has officially been rediscovered in Ecuador after being lost to science for 102 years.

Scientists found two female Molleturo Robber Frogs in Reserva Quitahuayco, hidden on the forest floor under the illumination of a full moon. Reserva Quitahuayco is a #KeyBiodiversityArea, which means it is a site of global importance to the planet’s overall health and the global persistence of biodiversity. This rediscovery signals the importance of protecting the Molleturo Forest, one of the most degraded ecosystems in Ecuador, where only 30% of the original forest remains.

rewild, with support from bezosearthfund, is working with Fundacion Amaru and bioparqueamaru to help create a 2,100-acre private reserve that will connect to Reserva Quitahuayco, providing better connectivity between intact habitat. This project is crucial to protecting the Critically Endangered Molleturo Robber Frog while safeguarding several other threatened species found nowhere else on Earth.

As we mark #LostSpeciesMonth this October, the rediscovery of species like the Molleturo Robber Frog reminds us how vital it is to protect these fragile ecosystems and continue searching for the species we have yet to find.

Photo credit: 1. Juan Carlos Sanchez, 2. jaime_culebras

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## Tags

lostspeciesmonth, keybiodiversityarea

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