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The Hula painted frogs were one of the first frog species to be declared extinct in 1996. Researchers believed that this frog species no longer existed after not one single frog was spotted for nearly 60 years. However, in 2011, just one male Hula painted frog was found in the Hula Valley wetlands of Israel. Since then, 13 more frogs have been discovered, suggesting that these frogs are back. Now, scientists are working hard to find ways of bringing these frogs from the brink of extinction once again.

"We felt like we have a great finding when we first rediscovered it - this [frog] was like an idol in Israel," Professor Sarig Gafny said to BBC News. "But then we found it was a living fossil: this was amazing." The frogs have a distinctive black-and-white spotted belly.

After doing more research into the few Hula painted frogs alive today, scientists believe that these frogs could also be considered living fossils. These frogs were found to belong to a family of frogs that was previously believed to be completely extinct. These frogs could now provide more information of this family of European frogs that disappeared over 15,000 years ago. Originally, these frogs were believed to a part of the Discoglossus group of amphibians. But after several genetic tests and CT scans, scientists discovered that the Hula painted frogs actually belong to the Latonia group.

"The survival of this living fossil is a striking example of resilience to severe habitat degradation during the past century by an amphibian, and may imply on the future survival of this species," the report wrote, according to USA today.

The limited amount of frogs alive today only lives in one part of the Hula Valley. The Hula Valley was drained in the 1950s, which destroyed the swampy areas. Scientists today hope to re-flood the areas in an attempt to provide a better habitat for the Hula printed frogs to repopulate and thrive in.

The report focusing on these frogs was led by Rebecca Biton from the Hebrew University of Israel and was published in Nature Communications.