Animals

The March of the Red Crab
A Moth Find a New Home
Suicidal Birds
A leopard and A cheetah
The Spectacular Hornbill
The Antelope with an extraordinary nose
Masquerading Males
Tiny But Powerful
Electric Fishes
Paternal Care
Hairless Cat
Passionate Parrot
Calling Out To Mother
Hot Wheels
Discs On Their Wings
Two-humped Camels
Frozen Frog
Silken Chambers
Earth Pig
Swordsman of the Sea
The Ostrich Trick
Electrifying Meal
Bizarre Turtle
Grey Whales
The Flying Lemur
The Winged Fishing Creature
Llamas
A Different Sort of a Parrot
The Tailless Cat
The Ancestor Of The Rhino
Acquisitive Wood Rats
The Butterflyfish
The Amazing Jumper
The Largest Deer
The Devil’s Coach-Horse
The Porcupine With A Prehensile Tail
The Irritating Fencing
The Acrobatic Otter
The Busy Termite Colony
Superb Mimics
The Canary
Snow Monkey
Jumping Spiders
Glass Lizard
Beetle Rhino
The World’s Smallest Bear
Hygienic Ants
Flat as a Pancake
The Carpet Shark
The Centipede Walk

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Frozen Frog

Like all amphibians, frogs are cold-blooded, meaning that their body temperature changes with the temperature of their surroundings. In winter, some frogs dig burrows underground or in the mud at the bottom of ponds. They hibernate in these burrows until spring.
Wood frogs are found in North America and some live north of the Arctic Circle. As the temperature drops below freezing, the wood frog drifts into a deep hibernation, its breathing and heartbeat grind to a halt, and as much as 65% of the water in its body gradually crystallizes into ice. Glucose in its blood acts as a kind of anti-freeze that concentrates in its vital organs, protecting them from damage, while the rest of the body freezes solid.

It spends two or three months of each winter in this state, with its body temperature hovering between -1°C and -6°C. When spring finally arrives, the ice melts, heartbeat and breathing return, and the frog comes back to life!

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Last updated on :6/12/2006

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User's Comments

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Githa: Wow! That's a really neat answer!

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