Bufo periglenes male in grass, Costa Rica.
© WWF-Canon / R. MALENKI
The Golden Toad (Bufo periglenes) is a small, shiny, bright-orange toad that was once abundant in a small region of high-altitude cloud-covered tropical forests, above the city of Monteverde. Golden toads, considered one of the most spectacularly coloured toads on Earth, were conspicuous only during the breeding season. For a few weeks each April, the males gathered in groups of hundreds in small pools of water to wait for females. Breeding activity lasted one to two weeks, then the toads would disappear for another year.
However, since 1989, not a single Golden Toad has been seen anywhere in the world, and it is classified by the
IUCN as extinct. Its extinction has been attributed to a number of factors including pollution, weather, and climate change due to global warming.
