Frogs legs

The Samkos bush frog - photo Jeremy Holden

I kept my eyes open for this little blighter during my recent two-day trek in the forests of the Cardamom Mountains but failed miserably to spot him, in fact I saw very little wildlife aside from a horde of blood-sucking leeches and flocks of hornbills. I was keen to spot a frog after reading about the discovery in the Cardamoms of at least four new frog species - the Samkos bush frog, the Cardamom bush frog, Smith's frog and the Aural horned frog - amongst 40 new-to-science amphibian species announced recently. The incredibly-rare Samkos frog has generated a bit of press as it has green blood and turquoise bones - it's a show-off in the frog world - and is part of a new field guide to amphibians in Cambodia, authored by Jeremy Holden and Neang Thy, which resulted from eight years of research with Fauna & Flora International. A Field Guide to the Amphibians of Cambodia is available from FFI for $40 and has also been published in Khmer.