Watching: Frog Safari

Overview

Over the past year, three young scientists have found unusual colored frogs in the wild in Latvia that are not typical for our region. A green frog with unusual orange and black coloring—seen for the first time—as well as a strange red frog. Scientists are trying to determine the cause – whether these are "natural errors" in a few specimens, or whether the entire frog population is affected – with environmental pollution being cited as one of the reasons. In a parallel story the scientists are conducting research on the restored tree frog population, observing the results of a project implemented in the 1990s – at that time, the extinct tree frog species was successfully restored and is once again found on the Kurzeme coast.