In the damp leaf litter between Concepción and Aysén, the Darwin’s frog mimics the very ground it walks upon, its bright green skin concealing a biological rarity. Here, the male of the species performs a unique labor, carrying his developing tadpoles within his own vocal sac until they are ready to meet the world. It is a gesture of protection that Valenzuela, as president of ONG Ranita de Darwin, has mirrored in his decade-long struggle to provide these animals with a sanctuary. In the silence of the moss, the frog emits a sound that more closely resembles a bird’s brief whistle than the croak of an amphibian.
The newly approved RECOGE plan provides the framework to address the fragmentation of these populations. The southern species, Rhinoderma darwinii, survives in approximately 56 isolated clusters, many containing fewer than a hundred individuals. Its cousin, the northern Darwin’s frog, has not been seen since 1981, and the new strategy includes a dedicated search to find any remaining colony before the species is declared lost forever.
The strategy involves a network of researchers across Chile and Argentina focusing on the restoration of native Nothofagus habitats. It also establishes rigorous monitoring for the chytrid fungus, a pathogen that disrupts the breathing of amphibians and has decimated populations globally. By integrating captive breeding efforts at the National Zoo of Chile and the University of Concepción, the plan aims to ensure that the small, whistling inhabitant of the forest remains a living part of the landscape first documented by Charles Darwin nearly two centuries ago.