ck them out of the way as you were walking down the trail (1:1033." At present though, the toads are hard to find.
Secondly, in the mountains and foothills of California, the mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa), the Yosemite toad (Bufo canorus), the foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylei), and the California red-legged frog (Rana aurora)--all of which were once abundant--have recently become rare (7:422-424). By the late 1980s in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, R. muscosa had disappeared from 98% of the ponds where it had once been studied (4:1794). Furthermore, populations of R. cascadae have suffered an 80% decline in Oregon and have virtually disappeared in California.
In addition, Australia's gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus silus) may have already become extinct. The frog, which was discovered in 1973, lived in relatively undisturbed regions of Queensland. The amphibian was particularly interesting because it swallowed its own eggs and then, following gestation, regurgitated its hatchlings. According to Michael Tyler, a biologist at the University of Adelaide, "It was so abundant that an agile collector could have picked up 100 in a single night (7:422-424)." Unfortunately though, in 1981 the frog disappeared. Moreover, of the 193 other frog species identified in Australia, approximately 10% have additionally suffered population decreases (8:1694).
Perhaps, one of the most worrisome population declines though has occurred in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve (1:1033). Inside this preserve, the golden toad (Bufo periglenes) lives within a one-half square mile of stunted forest near the continental divide. Since the toads' discovery in 1964, their habitat has remained undisturbed. Regardless though, observed breeding site populations of more than 1,000 animals have recently diminished to just a few animals (2:29).
Finally, since 1981, 8 of the 13 frog species which had live...