6 amazing facts about frogs that inspire respect and awe
Miscellaneous / / June 11, 2022
They are able to gesticulate, demonstrate their organs through the skin and bring people to ecstasy.
1. Frogs are capable of cryopreservation
The rich around the world are looking for a way to freeze their bodies in order to move hundreds of years ahead and take advantage of the benefits of the future, but so far something has not worked. But many types of frogs know howCan Frogs Survive Being Frozen? /LiveScience.com to do this without any cryocapsules - he lay down in the frozen ground, fell into suspended animation, woke up in the spring and went about his business. Everything is simple.
For example, tree, marsh, three-band and gray tree frogs are frozen. This superpower is especially important for amphibians living in Alaska.
These frogs can survive even if 70% of the body's water is frozen. Their organs become like dried meat, and the fluid in the body becomes like snow. But as soon as the sun warms these amphibians, they come to their senses and go hunting to restore their strength.
Freezing of amphibians is the object of close study. Scientists believe that the superpowers of frogs will help to keep human organs longer transplants.
2. Atelope Tzeteka can communicate with gestures
Frogs are known to use croaking during the breeding season to call for a female. But some species have more advanced communication mechanisms than others.
For example, the Tsetek atelope (or the Panamanian golden frog) is able to defend its territory from hostile males, giving them signals not only with its voice, but also with its paws. Aggressive front swings limbsPanamanian golden toad / Britannica make it clear to others that they have entered other people's possessions.
Atelope literally gestures to competitors what he will do to them if they do not get off his land.
It is possible that the frog's ability to gesture is an evolutionary mechanism that reducesE. D. Lindquist, T. E. Hetherington. Field Studies on Visual and Acoustic Signaling in the "Earless" Panamanian Golden Frog, Atelopus zeteki / Journal of Herpetology intraspecific aggression. It is much better to simply intimidate the opponent than to fight him, so that both will remain alive and maintain their borders.
By the way, atelope is very poisonous. Therefore, if you are in jungle Amazons and you will see that a small evil yellow creature is waving its paws warningly at you, in no case take it in your hands.
3. Male Rhinoderma Darwin grows tadpoles in his throat
Usually, an organ called the "voice bag" attached to the frog's throat is used to enhance the croaking. But some species of amphibians find more original use for it.
For example, males of Darwin's rhinoderm, an amphibian that lives on the slopes of the Andes, in southern Chile and in Argentina. After fertilization of a friend, they wait for her to lay eggs, and swallowRhinoderma darwinii / AmphibiaWeb them. The caviar enters the happy dad's voice sac and fuses with the blood vessels, feeding on his body.
Tadpoles hatch inside, live there until they are fully formed frogs, and only then the father spits them out.
4. Through the body of a glass frog you can see its organs
Its name is glass frogs of Central and South America gotScientists Discover the Reason Behind the Glass Frog's Translucent Skin / Smithsonian Magazine not for fragility, but because of the translucent body. Through the skin of this amphibian, you can see its internal bodies: how the heart beats, the stomach digests food, the bones under the muscles turn white.
Such a structure is necessary for these amphibians to protect themselves from predators. When they sit on a leaf, they are almost invisible. Disguise just like in the book "The Invisible Man" by HG Wells.
Glass frogs are not only masters of camouflage, but also good parents. About offspring take careE. A. Vockwnhunter. Reproductive behavior of the glass frog Hyalinobatrachium valerioi (Anura: Centrolenidae) at the tropical stream Quebrada Negra (La Gamba, Costa Rica) / Biologiezentrum Linz males. One single father can fertilize up to seven females. Then he collects clutches in one place to make it easier to look after them, and protects them from predators until the frogs hatch.
5. The dread leafcreeper becomes venomous due to its diet
The terrible leaf climber is a tiny frog, the length of which reaches only 6 centimeters. But, despite its modest dimensions, the animal got its name for a reason: it is capable of producing one of the strongest poisons in the world.
It is enough for you to take the leaf climber in your hands to getPhyllobates terribilis / ADW.org poisoning by batrachotoxin, released through the bright skin of this creature. Touching a frog causes convulsions, salivation, muscle spasms and shortness of breath, and if you hold it a little longer - paralysis, atrial fibrillation, heart failure and death.
The rainforest tribes of Colombia use leaf climber venom to make their arrowheads deadly.
Despite the foregoing, many terrariumists are holdingPhyllobates terribilis / AmphibiaWeb these amphibians as pets without any fear of poisoning. The fact is that frogs produce their batrachotoxin by eating all sorts of poisonous ants, ticks and other invertebrates. At the same time, the frog guesses exactly which insects and in what quantity to eat, so as not to poison itself.
Listolaz living in captivity are absolutely safe. In Colombia, they are specially grown in large quantities for export to vivarium owners around the world.
6. Bicolor phyllomedusa secretes hallucinogens
Not all frogs are as venomous as the dreaded leaf crawler. Toxins secreted by the skin of the bicolor phyllomedusa not enoughPhyllomedusa bicolor / AmphibiaWeb powerful to kill, but can also cause severe hallucinations and intoxicate to the point of complete insanity. This amphibian is also called the wax tree frog, because its poisonous secret resembles whitish wax.
This is also a good defense mechanism. The predator grabs the frog, is about to eat it, but suddenly falls into an altered state of consciousness. And the cunning amphibian brazenly jumps into the sunset, while the aggressor looks at the sky in amazement and wonders why the soul is so good, and the trees began to grow upside down.
The tribes of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru use phyllomedusa venom for initiation, allowing boys and girls to experience the "lightness" of being and talk to spirits of ancestors. True, the retribution for such pleasure is exorbitant. cruelP. S. den Brave. Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretion and the Kambô ritual / Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases: after the frog lover comes to his senses, severe tachycardia, vomiting and diarrhea await him.
Shamans and healers of the Amazon believe that by rubbing themselves with a frog secret, you can cleanse the body of all that is superfluous. But in fact abuse alternative medicine causes damage to the kidneys, pancreas and liver. So the bicolor phyllomedusa is not at all as harmless as it might seem.
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