"Traveling Frog" is popular in the circle of friends, and for a time everyone raised a "frog son". But you may not know that the frog son in reality is really not so Buddhist if he wants to grow up and travel.
Mr.frog (Ph.D., Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Editor/Liu Zhao New Media Editor/Chen Xuanzhi
Recently, you must have noticed that the style of the circle of friends has changed, and you wake up full of screens to sunbathe your frog son. Your friends may be unmarried men and women unmarried, or even a single dog, but they have all turned into frog fathers, frog mothers who are broken hearts, and sigh every day children are worried about thousands of miles of mothers...
This frog that frantically brushes the circle of friends comes from a cultivation game "Traveling Frog") (Chinese translated as "Traveling Frog"). It likes to travel, go to different places, make different friends, and occasionally send back a postcard that haunts your dreams, so netizens like to call it "Buddhist frog". But have you ever wondered how frogs in real life grow up and "travel"?
As the saying goes: "Always floating in the rivers and lakes, how can you not be knifed!" "Nature is full of terrible traps, whether you are a tiny bug, a beautiful butterfly, or a mysterious lizard, a terrifying spider, a little carelessness, at any time you can become someone else's appetizer." 」 There is no absolute security, no immutable predatory relationship, and no eternal king.
▲The spot-legged pan-tree frog is lying on the leaves, and its big eyes look very cute
▎ Stage 1: Start with the egg and plan ahead
From eggs to tadpoles to frogs, it's a long and bumpy process. Frogs are born with many difficulties: most frogs ignore the eggs after laying their eggs and leave them at the disposal of nature and predators. However, in the face of the harsh reality, the little frog did not sit still, but chose to face it positively. From the time of the egg, they have been preparing for the rain, and in order to provide a safe place for the frog eggs, it can be described as a "trick".
Most of the frog eggs are laid in the middle and lower layers of the water body, so it is inevitable that they will be eaten by carnivorous aquatic insects and fish such as water ants ( chài ) . The clever flower frog chooses to lay its eggs on the surface of the water - the frog eggs float on the surface of the water with the help of the tension of the water surface, effectively avoiding the frog eggs from being preyed upon by underwater predators.
▲ The clever flower frog chooses to lay its eggs on the surface of the water
If you still feel that it is not safe for frog eggs to stay in the water, you can directly isolate the frog eggs from predators in the water. The male fairy frog will choose to build a nest not far from the pond, and the nest is roughly parallel to the pond, but it is not directly connected. When the eggs have developed into tadpoles in their nests and are ready to explore the outside world, they will use the rain to come to the pond and start a new life course.
▲ A delicate house built by Xianqin frogs
Compared to the Xianqin frog, the spot-legged pan-tree frog is even worse, laying its eggs directly inside the sealed follicles. The female frog stirs with her hind legs to create a foam, and the outermost layer of the foam begins to harden after a period of contact with the air, sealing the eggs inside. In addition to providing the eggs with water, oxygen and nutrients necessary for development, the follicles also create a natural haven for them, and the follicles of the spotted-legged pan-tree frog are simply an excellent nursery. The follicles usually lay on a few intertwined leaves above the pond, and when the frog eggs develop into tadpoles, the tadpoles break free from the mucus at the bottom end of the follicle and fall into the pond.
▲ Foam eggs of the spot-legged tree frog
Of course, not all frogs learn to build nests or form follicles, so how do they overcome this problem?
The little eye-spotted Liu tree frog has a special love for bamboo tubes, they not only court in the bamboo tubes, but also lay eggs in the bamboo tubes. Small bamboo tubes, predators can not enter at all, even if insects like spiders go in, they can take the frog eggs in the water. What's more important is that the eye-spotted willow tree frog does not need to spend extra time building nests or laying follicles, killing two birds with one stone.
▲Bamboo house of the eye-spotted Liu tree frog
Similarly, not all frogs are as lucky as the eye-spotted tree frog to find their own "bamboo house", and the magical possum toad chooses to lay eggs on the skin of their backs and carry eggs around. It is estimated that they feel that it is not safe to put the eggs anywhere, or they feel that it is more appropriate to carry them with them - this is also in line with the style of "walking the rivers and lakes"!
▎ Stage 2: The path of survival of the little tadpole
However, even under the "careful planning" of their parents, frog eggs survive the development stage and grow into tadpoles, and what awaits them is still a cruel reality. This period is crucial for young tadpoles, which will face the greatest dangers and challenges of their lives.
In order to avoid predators, the tadpole of the flower-himed frog chooses to move close to the water surface, with a transparent body, which makes it difficult for predators from the bottom of the water and the shore to find them.
In comparison, the eye-spotted willow tree frog tadpole is much safer to live in a small and delicate bamboo house. The tadpole stage lives in bamboo tubes until they metamorphose into juvenile frogs, neither having to be harassed by predators nor worrying about starvation, feeding on the humus and moss inside the bamboo tubes.
▲ The eye-spotted Liushu frog tadpole stays in a deep bamboo house
Nature is the greatest enemy, and if there is a continuous drought, the still water puddles and bamboo tubes will dry up, and the little tadpoles will be doomed. The poison dart frog simply carries the tadpole on its back, wherever it goes, where it goes. The tadpoles of the stomach-bred brook toad stay in the mother's stomach to complete the metamorphosis process, and when they spit out of the female toad's stomach, they have developed into young frogs. Motherly love is so great!
▎ The third stage: the eight immortals cross the sea and each shows his miraculous powers
The tadpole that survived by chance finally transformed into a frog after experiencing many difficulties and tests. At this time, they have initially mastered skills such as jumping, climbing, and swimming. Although the situation has improved slightly, they dare not slacken off at all. If you want to survive in the dangerous jungle, on the one hand, you need a certain amount of "weapons and equipment", and at the same time, you need enough wisdom and courage. Protective colors, warning colors, and even pretending to be dead and using poison are all their survival secrets at key moments.
Protective color is the most common self-defense strategy in the animal kingdom and the most important survival secret. Although the narrow road meets the brave and wins, it is also a good strategy if you can hold the soldiers still and retreat with your whole body.
The color of the back of the frog and the frog is not only very similar to the habitat, the patterns and warts on the back make them more "in harmony" with the surrounding environment - the dark warts on the back of the frog resemble the shape of sand grains, and the markings on the back of the frog also play the same role.
▲ The dark warts on the back of the fine prickly water frog resemble sand grains
Vigilance is another important secret to the self-protection of living things. These bright colors often have a signal and warning effect on predators, so that predators avoid it. Oriental bell toad, also known as fire-bellied bell toad, red-bellied toad. Slow in movement, when disturbed or attacked by the enemy, the forelimbs will be raised, the head and hind legs will be arched over the back, forming a bow, the entire ventral surface is extremely eye-catching, orange or orange and black, orange-red palms, which is a signal to the predator that it is poisonous here. The bright appearance of the poison dart frog also has a warning color effect.
Whether it is a protective color or a warning color, if it does not work, once the enemy is present, the frog can only take out the ultimate secret weapon - pretending to be dead, which is very useful for many predators who do not like to eat dead bodies. If the unfortunate predator "stares" at it, the spotted-legged tree frog will immediately shrink its body into a ball, slow down its breathing, hunch over its head, hold its head high with its hands held high, and close its eyes tightly. This seemingly innocent action is very deceptive, and the spotted-legged tree frog will take advantage of the predator's "wonder" to take the road and flee.
▲ Spot-legged pan-tree frog's unique pretend death behavior
An important reason why toads can "run rampant" is that they are "poisonous". There are many knots on the surface of the toad's body, and the internal toxic glands, the back of the ear glands are the two largest of them. If attacked by a predator, the toad will swell up, exposing its venom glands and secreting a white slurry that shoots into the predator's eyes and mouth. With such a skill, it is no longer difficult for the toad to walk the rivers and lakes.
In addition, the well-known poison dart frog is the leader in the use of poison.
In the crisis-ridden and predatory natural world, if the frog family wants to live and thrive, it must do any link of "egg - tadpole - frog". Whether it's precautions, or personal care, whether it's the use of venom, or the feigned death, their wisdom and courage are beyond our imagination — they are small, but not small.
In addition to nature's ubiquitous traps, humans may also be its natural enemies...
(This article was compiled by the Beijing Science and Technology News All-Media Center.) Reprint authorization, please contact the "Science Plus" WeChat public account, violators will be investigated)
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