NAMPA - Northwest Nazarene University's Biology Department has a mystery on their hands: frogs that may be entirely new to science.
The mystery frogs were smuggled from Mexico to Hong Kong, where they were seized by authorities.
Authorities thought they were a rare species of fringed-limbed tree frogs, and chose NNU to study them. But when they arrived, Biology Professor Dr. John Cossel thought something was off.
After quite a bit of research and checking with experts around the world, Dr. Cossel - who chairs the Biology Department - concluded that these frogs were something new.
"We decided it's almost certainly a new species and my students are I are looking at a number of things to try to confirm that," Dr. Cossel said. "We'll look at genetics, we'll look at the calls - each species has a call that they make."
Dr. Cossel believes the frogs are native to Mexico. But as of right now the only place to see them in captivity is at NNU.