In the dark of the Sri Lankan cloud forest, the researchers’ only guides
were the headlamps they used to light up the night, illuminating the
cold, gray mist that drifted through the trees.
They looked carefully as
they walked among the trunks, the beams from their headlamps casting
left and right, up and down. They examined rocks and branches, leaf
litter and shrubs, tree trunks, and leaves high in the canopy. By and
by, they found one, then another — small tree frogs that froze in the
light and went suddenly silent.
