He searched on the ground and in the bushes, but the animal was lost - not just to him but possibly to all humanity. Like other species here, it could go extinct before anyone knew it had existed.
Conservationists agree that Haiti is undergoing a mass extinction. It's the only substantially sized country to have destroyed 99 percent of its forest, which is why Hedges is on a mission to study its last animal inhabitants before they disappear forever. In late July, he and a team of six, accompanied by an Inquirer reporter, took a four-day trip through some of the country's last bits of preserved forest.
The finds they made - rare animals and some species never seen before - may help to rouse the Haitian government, which has done little to protect these fragile places.
In the long run, scientists think deforestation could prove more deadly than even the 2010 earthquake. The capital remains crammed with tents for the displaced. Streets are still lined with collapsed houses. But things could get worse. Millions of people depend on the remaining forests for clean water and cooking fuel.
Ecologist Joel Timyan, who came on the expedition, said the situation recalled an analogy he heard from Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich: You're on an airplane, and it loses some rivets, and then a few more, and it's still flying, but eventually the loss of one last rivet causes it to crash.
When the last patches are gone, along with them will go dozens of species of frogs, lizards, and other animals. Scientists have many reasons to save them - ethical, aesthetic, and even medical - since these creatures contain a "living library" of biological compounds that may someday be used to cure disease.
Some have called Haiti "an unthinkable experiment" - a harbinger of what could occur in other parts of the world.
Into 'terra incognita'
