Have you heard of Romeo, the world’s loneliest frog? Romeo is a Sehuencas Water Frog (Telmatobius yuracare), an aquatic frog species only found in Bolivia,and was thought to be the last of his species. He has been alone in the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny in Bolivia for 10 years. Romeo’s home habitat has been lost and damaged due to agriculture and logging. Water pollution, Chytrid fungus, a deadly disease for frogs, and invasive trouts all don’t help the frogs either. The future is not looking great for the Sehuencas Water Frogs.
Scientists with the help of the Global Wildlife Conservation and the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny, set up a Match.com profile page for Romeo to help raise funds to find him a lover. On Tuesday, Teresa Camacho Badani, the chief Herpetology of the Museum, announced that they have found Romeo his Juliet. Besides just finding a Juliet, they found four other frogs, including another female. The new frogs are currently in quarantine so that they get used to their new habitat and to insure that they are disease free. They plan to introduce Romeo and Juliet on Valentine’s Day and hopefully, they will start breeding. The scientists hope to help re-establish populations of the Sehuencas Water Frog with a captive breeding program.
