Frog, thought extinct, has been stayin' alive

MADDOW: All right. Tonight's "Moment of Geek " starts with a picture of a cannibal. So, please brace yourselves. That's it. A little frog cannibal. This is the first-known example collected in 1940 of the hula painted frog . Scientific name, which itself is awesome, Discoglossus nigriventer . If I was in charge of re-etymologizing Latin , I would declare it comes from the cute little belly spots. Look, that kind of look like the lights from a disco ball. In reality though, it got its name because Discoglossus means disk- shaped tongue. And apparently, it has a disk-shaped tongue. You are welcome for that. Only a handful of these frogs have ever been collected. Four of them were collected in the '40s when the species was first discovered and one of those four little frogs, one of the four ever collected, ate one of the other ones. Thus, reducing the world's known population of hula painted frogs by 25 percent in a single meal. The fifth painted hula frog ever collected, they got in 1955 , around the time when the swamp where these little cannibals lived, a swamp near Lake Hula in northern Israel , that swamp was going to be drained to prevent malaria. Draining the swamp not always just a metaphor in Washington . Apparently, the draining the swamp action also prevented the hula painted frogs because in 1955 , that was the last time anyone ever saw one of these guys they were declared extinct in 1996 . Psych! Israel 's Nature and Parks Authority unveiled this little amphibian today -- yes, a hula painted frog found by a genius park ranger at a nature preserve who noticed this little guy because he had never seen a frog with this particular strange jumping technique before. So, he decided they would check out that frog and viola, yes, it's him. Look at that little specklely belly. Come on. Yes, that's a Discoglossus nigriventer right there. Israeli authorities credit the recovery of the species to a new program they started to divert water back into those swamps that they drained 60 years ago. Proceed with caution here, right, Israel . I mean, the last time you found these guys, they ate each other and you dried up the habitat. Now, you're putting water back in. Make sure you don't drown them this time.

Incidentally, there is an international amphibian hunt going on right now for more species. So, if you happen run across a gastric brooding frog, and seriously, it has that name, or real Piscatto stub-footed toad, or a Mesopotamian beaked toad, please call a park ranger -- and then call us.