Flash Photography Linked to Galaxy Frog Disappearance in India’s Western Ghats

With its pale blue speckles and bright orange patterning, the galaxy frog (Melanobatrachus indicus) looks less like an amphibian and more like a fragment of the night sky. Yet, a new report published today in Herpetology Notes by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) warns that our desire to capture this beauty on camera may have led to the disappearance of a local population in India’s Western Ghats.

Researchers returning to their study site between August 2021 and May 2022 failed to find any of the seven frogs they had previously recorded beneath rotting logs in early 2020. The findings suggest a "tragic irony": the drive to document these rare creatures has likely contributed to their local demise.