Page 30 - World of Animals - Issue #29
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50 fabulous frogs
2. Some frogs have eyes 3. Purple frogs spend
95 per cent of the
bigger than their bellies year underground
Also known as the pignose frog owing to its
unusually tapered snout, Nasikabatrachus
Anyone that’s played Pac-Man will immediately sometimes their voracious appetite can prove
know why South American horned frogs their downfall; if they try to chow down on sahyadrensis is only found in a handful of sites
are associated with the 1980s ghost guzzler. something bigger than them, there’s a good around the Western Ghats in southern India.
When it’s feeling peckish (which is most of the chance they will choke to death. For a long time, the endangered species went
time), there’s not much this creature won’t try As territorial as it is greedy, even humans are undetected because it leads a largely subterranean
to eat. Lizards, fish, mice, insects and smaller not safe from this fearless frog. There are tribes life feasting on termites. It can seek out these
frogs are all on the menu. Not to mention in the Amazon who wear special high boots just tasty treats with its sensitive snout and then suck
each other, if the mood takes them. However, to avoid falling victim to its mighty mouth! them up with its tongue. The only time it ventures
out of its 3.5-metre (11.5-foot) deep burrow is to
reproduce for a few weeks around May.
“As territorial as it is greedy, even humans
are not safe from this fearless frog”
BELOW 4. Wood frogs
The wood frog’s antifreeze-
like blood helps it to survive
through cold winters have mastered
cryogenics
While most animals hibernate or migrate to survive the
winter months, Rana sylvatica has evolved to just chill
out – totally. When temperatures plummet below zero,
wood frogs find a sheltered spot and let themselves turn
to ice. Everything stops – including their hearts. During
experiments, Alaskan specimens were able to endure
temperatures as low as -16 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees
Fahrenheit) and it’s expected that in the wild they may
even surpass this!
This enviable ability to freeze and thaw is thanks to
high levels of cryoprotectants, such as glucose and urea,
which essentially turn their blood into antifreeze. This
prevents too much ice from forming in vital tissues, which
otherwise would lead to cell death. Come spring, they
are able to defrost in such a way that the fundamental
systems like the heart and lungs begin to function first.
It’s hoped that further study of these frosty frogs might
help us develop more efficient ways of preserving and
transporting our own organs for transplants.
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