Martha Crump was a biologist who studied the elusive golden toad extensively. They lived only in a four kilometer range in the Costa Rican hills, and spent almost all of their lives underground. However, once a year at the start of the wet season, the male toads would emerge and begin to sing for the females. It was described by Crump as a forest floor full of jewels; hundreds upon thousands of toads in a chorus of sound.

The 1980s saw a sharp decline in population. Whether it was human or climate driven is still unknown, but the mating pairs dwindled drastically. In 1988, Crump witnessed a singular male toad exit a burrow, climb onto a nearby rock, and begin it’s song. When the night was over, the toad descended back underground, alone. In 1989, Crump returned to the area, and again found the singular male. Again it climbed, sang it’s tiny song to a vast and empty jungle, and vanished back underground. It was the last ever sighting of the golden toad. Crump believed it was the same male from the year before.

The golden toad was declared extinct in the early 2000s. The story of the lone male toad helped usher in the species as a hallmark of modern conservation. It is gone, but not forgotten. May we do better with those that are left.