Life imitates art? Hyalinobatrachium dianae (don’t try to pronounce that), a new species of frog discovered in Costa Rica, literally looks like Kermit the Frog. That is, if Kermit was kind of slimy and could only whistle instead of sing.
CBS News reports that the amphibian may have gone undetected in the past because it lives in poorly studied sites and its mating call sounds more like a whistle than a full-throated ribbit. Brian Kubiki, the researcher who discovered the new species of amphibian, gave an explanation of how it’s possible that the frog has been incognito for so long.
“The advertisement call that the males of this species produce are very unique, no other known species of frog has a similar call, and this was indeed one of the traits that we used for the justification of it being a completely new species,” he said. But because the call is so different – a long metallic whistle that sounds more like an insect than most other frogs – it “could have played a role in its going undetected prior.”
I’d like to think that no one will try to find one and pose it next to a porker in a wig, but it’s probably only a matter of time before Kermit and Miss Piggy meet in real life. Meanwhile, the internet is very excited about this:
https://twitter.com/_hannahpark/status/590325411755794433
https://twitter.com/darth/status/590276464408268801
Never give the internet ideas.
(via CBS News)