INTRODUCING TUFFY

Several years ago, our eco-warrior “Tuffy” was introduced to run various internal educational campaigns.

His namesake is “Toughie” – the last known living Rabbs’ fringe-limbed treefrog, that inhabited the forest canopies of central Panama. Discovered by scientists as recently as 2005, Toughie and his kin were capable of gliding remarkable distances by spreading their fully webbed hands and feet during descent. Toughie was rescued when a deadly fungus and deforestation threatened the species. He managed to survive for four and a half years in an Atlanta Zoo where he died in 2016, the last of his kind. During his captivity, he became a very public ambassador for his lost species, and for all of the frog species going extinct around the world due to disease and eradication of their natural habitats.

This loss of habitat is a major factor contributing to a growing wave of extinction – unprecedented in that it is caused by a single species: us humans. The list of threatened and endangered creatures continues to grow every year. Tuffy teaches us that the protection and restoration of natural habitats is essential for our own human survival (think of bees and their pollinating prowess – essential for growing food). Tuffy reminds us how interconnected our very existence is to nature and that we urgently need to prevent further loss of biodiversity.