THE SPY WHO LOVED FROGS

Abstract

Brown's reassessment could prove crucial. Since Taylor's time, taxonomy has become more than just a naming exercise. Amphibian declines, in particular, have made headlines around the world, and the Philippines ranks second only to Sri Lanka for sheer proportions of imperilled species: 79% of Philippine amphibians are found nowhere else on Earth, and 46% are under threat of extinction. At 23, he joined the civil service and became what he called "a one-man Peace Corps" in the Philippines - then a US territory - setting up a school for members of a headhunting tribe in central Mindanao, where he collected the parachute gecko among other species.