What brightly colored amphibian from Costa Rica went extinct in 1989?

The brightly colored amphibian from Costa Rica that went extinct in 1989 was the golden toad.

The golden toad (Incilius periglenes) was a small true toad endemic to Costa Rica’s Monteverde region. Males were striking orange or golden, while females could show darker colors with contrasting yellow, red, green, or white markings. The species lived in a tiny area of high-elevation elfin cloud forest, making its entire known population unusually vulnerable.

Golden toads gathered in temporary breeding pools during the rainy season. In some years, researchers counted roughly 1,500 adults, but the population collapsed rapidly. Only around ten or eleven animals were seen in 1988, and the last confirmed sighting was a solitary male on May 15, 1989.

Scientists have proposed several contributing factors, including unusual weather linked to El Niño, drying conditions, habitat sensitivity, climate change, and the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis. The exact combination remains debated. The species was declared extinct by the IUCN in 2004 after extensive searches found no survivors. It became an international emblem of the wider amphibian decline crisis.