Golden toads used to live in high areas in tropical forests up the town of Monteverde of Costa Rica. Those five centimetres long toads’ male are orange almost fluorescent; females are yellow with black spots. They are considered extinct since 1989. Their reproduction’s necessary condition where quite delicate : between April and June, where it rains the most, they get out, reproduce and females then lay eggs in temporary ponds and brooks created by rain. This toad was a lot dependant on rain. Not enough rain, ponds get dry and larva die. Too much, brooks get down the mountains and dispatch larva. 1987 dryness created a bloodbath: 29 on a 43,500 potential larva lived. (This phenomena was observed by Marty Crump, herpetologist, who think El Niño and global warm are responsible for this animal’s extinction.

(This picture is a sculpture, not a real toad.)