Cool freezing North American wood frog. This is the coolest thing I've seen all day and I thought I would blog it.
One of the most amazing examples of freeze tolerance is the wood frog. This common frog is found across Canada and all the way north to the tree line. Wood frogs winter on land, hiding under the leaf litter on the forest floor. By hibernating on land, the frogs can get active as soon as the snow melts and breed in the temporary ponds and ditches formed by meltwater. Once the first ice crystals reach a wood frog, however, its skin freezes. The frog becomes hard and crunchy.
Special proteins in their blood, called nucleating proteins, cause the water in the blood to freeze first. This ice, in turn, sucks most of the water out of the frog's cells.
At the same time the frog's liver starts making large amounts of glucose—a type of sugar—which packs into cells and props them up.
The concentrated sugar solution helps prevent additional water from being pulled out of the frog's cells, which can destroy them. Humans lack these nucleating proteins. So when our skin freezes, we get frostbite, which lethally sucks all the water out of our cells and causes them to collapse. The wood frogs can go through this cycle again and again. When spring finally arrives and decides to stay, the frogs hop around unharmed.
Watch the video:
All the living things are very very amazing the more we learn about them.
Art and more tutorials are coming soon.
One of the most amazing examples of freeze tolerance is the wood frog. This common frog is found across Canada and all the way north to the tree line. Wood frogs winter on land, hiding under the leaf litter on the forest floor. By hibernating on land, the frogs can get active as soon as the snow melts and breed in the temporary ponds and ditches formed by meltwater. Once the first ice crystals reach a wood frog, however, its skin freezes. The frog becomes hard and crunchy.
Special proteins in their blood, called nucleating proteins, cause the water in the blood to freeze first. This ice, in turn, sucks most of the water out of the frog's cells.
At the same time the frog's liver starts making large amounts of glucose—a type of sugar—which packs into cells and props them up.
The concentrated sugar solution helps prevent additional water from being pulled out of the frog's cells, which can destroy them. Humans lack these nucleating proteins. So when our skin freezes, we get frostbite, which lethally sucks all the water out of our cells and causes them to collapse. The wood frogs can go through this cycle again and again. When spring finally arrives and decides to stay, the frogs hop around unharmed.
Watch the video:
All the living things are very very amazing the more we learn about them.
Art and more tutorials are coming soon.
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