A toad species that became extinct in the wild in 1999 is one step closer to returning to its natural habitat.

The Kihansi spray toad used to live in a moist habitat created by the spray from the waterfalls in Kihansi Gorge, Tanzania.

The toad was discovered in 1996, but a hydroelectric dam built three years later led to its decline. The dam is important to Tanzania because it generates a third of the country’s power, but it reduced the falls to 10% of their original flow.

This reduction meant that the moisture from the spray was drastically reduced, and the toad was declared extinct in the wild last year. This was also partly due to pesticides and a deadly fungus that attacks toads and frogs.

However, thousands of the toads have been reared at Toledo Zoo and the Bronx Zoo in America. This week, 100 of the toads were returned to Tanzania as part of a plan to reintroduce them to the wild. Sprinklers have even been installed to try and replicate the toads’ habitat.

Check out the video below to see a cool report about the toads.

Image by Julie Larsen Maher © WCS