Hyloscirtus princecharlesi – The Frog Named After Prince Charles

  July 5, 2012 at 3:35 pm by

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In fairytales, it is usually a frog that turns into a prince, but this time, it’s a Prince that has become a frog. Well, sort of. In honour of Prince Charles’ tireless environmental campaigning, a rare species of Ecuadorian stream frog has been named Hyloscirtus Princecharlesi, or Prince Charles Stream Tree Frog.

The brown-coloured amphibian with large orange blotches was discovered by Ecuadorian scientist Dr. Luis Coloma four years ago among preserved museum specimens. Dr. Coloma then took part in an expedition that later found a few living members of the species in the Cotacachi-Cayapas National Park in Ecuador.  In June 2012 the species was described in the journal Zootaxa and named in honour of the Prince of Wales. According to the spokesperson for the conservation group, “It is fairly unusual to name a new species after someone but this is seen as something special in honour of the Prince.”

Dr. Coloma had a chance to meet Prince Charles (the real one) at a children’s environmental workshop that the prince was hosting at his Gloucestershire home. Later, the scientist shared some details about the meeting: “I think he was very happy with the name and especially to see such a beautiful frog have his name.”

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The Prince did appear to be in great mood as he was presented with a brown and orange replica of the frog and a commemorative gold medal today. He made couple of jokes, not forgetting his new namesake: “I’m very touched. It’s very nice. I have a lump in my throat, it must be a frog.”

When posing for photos with a number of schoolchildren, they placed the glass replica of the frog on his shoulder, he joked “the things I do for frogs!”

On a more serious note, Prince Charles pledged to “battle even harder” his conservation work. The Prince is a long-standing advocate of rainforest conservation; in 2007, he set up the Prince’s Rainforest Project to help discourage deforestation.

To read more about Prince Charles’ initiatives, visit this thread – The Prince’s Trust and The Prince’s Charities, Patronages and Causes

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