In 1987, in a tropical forest high in the mountains of Costa Rica, the golden toad. could be found in abundance. That year hundreds of the brightly colored animals were seen in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, The following year just a few toads were found. (1)Within a few years the golden toad had disappeared entirely, never to be seen again. While it is always a concern when a species plunges into extinction, (2)most extinctions are easier to understand than the loss of the golden toad, when a forest-dwelling bird goes extinct because its forest is cut down, there is no lingering to mystery. But the golden toads were living high in the forest reserve, a perfectly beautiful area far from destruction or human development. These toads, it seemed ( A ) extinct.