Last October, a boy named Beau, 6, and his sister, Haylie, 10, made a discovery that has scientists jumping for joy. The kids were playing near their home in Calaveras County, California, when they found three California red-legged frogs. The frog is the largest native one in the western United States. The species was last seen 34 years ago!
Beau and Haylie asked frog expert Robert Stack to help them identify the frog. "My heart was pounding, and I was nervous," Stack admits. This was the kind of frog that Mark Twain wrote about in his short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Says Stack: "I knew this [news] would be big!"