A TALE OF CONSERVATION

A TALE OF CONSERVATION

Meet Professor Indraneil Das. He likes to go by Neil. He's a Professor at the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation, Universiti of Malaysia Sarawak. His field is herpetology (which means he studies amphibians), and in 2011, he rediscovered the Borneo Rainbow Toad – a species thought to have been extinct since 1924 – in the tall trees of Gunung Penrissen.

The discovery of this reclusive rainbow toad caused quite a stir, and not only among herpetologists. It also inspired the designers at G-Shock to create the Frogman Borneo Rainbow Toad Limited Edition, a rare watch created to celebrate the rare amphibian.

As we were considering who should review this highly specific piece, we determined that no one in the world is more qualified than the man who has given his life to the rainbow toad – a man without whom we would not even know the animal existed. So we sent a watch out to Malaysia and awaited the professor's grade.

Last week, we sat down with Das to get his hands-on impressions of this wild timepiece – and even managed to learn a bit about the actual Rainbow Toad along the way. Pay close attention to the images of the watch (taken by Das). They were shot in the same style he uses to photograph frogs in the wild.

HODINKEE: So, what do you think of the watch?

Das: I think it's a good nod to amphibian conservation and to the fact that cool scientific discoveries can make the general public – meaning people outside of science and conservation – interested in us. I knew about the Frogman series, but I was shocked to learn about this watch. I think it was a fantastic idea to promote an endangered species this way.


To read more: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/a-real-frog-professor-reviews-the-g-shock-frogman-borneo-rainbow-toad

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Universiti Malaysia Sarawak,
94300, Kota Samarahan,
Sarawak, Malaysia
Email : corporate@unimas.my
Tel : +60 82 58 1000

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