A froggy went walking...

Here’s one of the tadpoles some of my students proudly introduced me to in their classroom. 

“What sort of frog will he grow into?”  

“We don’t know, Mr. K. but it’s called metamorphosis.”  

(Help! Is this how you spell it, kids?)                                                                                              

                        

Never mind. I promised to include frogs in our Discovery Safari anyway…but where should we start? Which one of the 5,550 species of frog should we feature?

Apparently all frogs are cold-blooded, tail-less, carnivorous, breathing with lungs (and through their skin as well!) with 4 long legs, bulging eyes, sticky tongue, 3-chambered heart, inner eyelid (nictitating membrane) and being amphibious (‘double-life’) - developed from a tadpole with external gills and no lungs.  Wow!

Now for the variety of design!....

·       every colour and pattern you could imagine
·       voice: croaks, clicks, whistles, growls, or none - even sound like golf-ball dropping into cup
·       toes: 3, 4 or 5, sometimes with webbing or pads
·       jump, crawl, walk, run, climb, swim, float, glide - even hitchhike into town among bananas!
·       found in rainforest, desert, lagoon, mud, sand, even offices, quarries, building sites, gardens, water tanks, houses, toilets, (in your bed perhaps?)... up trees, on mountaintops…   
What an extraordinary life! Begin underwater nibbling greenery and finish up a mountain tree, catching mosquitos.
·       defences?...some have spines, poisonous skin, goo, tusks, lie on back playing dead…so be careful!

Green Tree Frog

·       offspring – some grow in Mum’s stomach, or even Dad’s pockets! (yuk!!)
 ·       diets: insects, small bats, tadpoles, mice, cockroaches, other frogs….
 ·       size – up to 40cm long (bigger than a football!)
·       diurnal or nocturnal

So how long could you wait for breakfast, or even for just a drink?

The amazingly patient Cyclorana platycephala or ‘water-holding frog’ lives in the mostly dry claypans of central Australia. He will draw on the reserves of fat and water in body tissues while he hides underground…..for months?....no, for up to 7 years! By the way, central Australia can be freezing overnight but that’s no problem when you have your own reservoir of anti-freeze.                                                                                                              

Waiting, waiting, waiting for rain...then when it comes, listen for the sound of the motorbike – that’ll be Froggy saying: ‘thank you!’                                   

When your breakfast finally arrives can you use your eyes to swallow it?                    
Well that’s what a frog can do – sink his eyes back thru holes in the skull to force food down his throat. Nifty, hey? No more beans or broccoli stuck in your throat!

So is this all just accidental good luck…or very clever and diverse design?

·       Special thanks to KMM kindergarten class - 2013, Wauchope Public School, NSW, Australia.    “Thanks boys and girls!”...from Mr. K

Acknowledgements:  

Thomas Marent, ‘Frog’, Dorling Kindersley, London, 2008  

Martyn Robinson, Field Guide to Frogs of Australia, Reed New Holland, 1993                                                                      
Photo credit: Janette Hornsey