Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Of Frogs: One of three best stories...

the other two relate to turtles and a pretty lady... but this I can relate to our political scenario:

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, 'Well.... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!'

While on the subject of real frogs, we used to find one or two in our containers of water meant for the dogs (not for breeding mosquitoes) in the garden. One day, I noticed a clump of something that looked like bubbles. I wondered why it stayed on the side of the container. Our part-time cleaner asked me why and I could not answer. Then one day, I looked closely to see if there were any larvae but instead found some tadpoles swimming around! That explained the clump of bubbles - frogs ejaculate and fertilize externally, according to what I had learned in school!

Actually frogs eat mosquitoes, so we should be friendly to them, but they attract snakes, some of which we have found in our garden a number of times. I have even posted about this huge monitor lizard in our living room! I have always regretted not taking a picture of it because people would not believe its size - could fend off our 3 dogs then, with its strong tail!

Just added: this frog happens to be named one of 11 most poisonous animals in the world!

If you ever happen to be running through the rain forests somewhere in Central or South America , do not ever pick up beautiful and colorful frogs - it can be the Poison Dart Frog. This frog is probably the most poisonous animal on earth. The 2 inch long (5cm) golden poison dart frog has enough venom to kill 10 adult humans or 20,000 mice. Only 2 micrograms of this lethal toxin (the amount that fits on the head of a pin) is capable of killing a human or other large mammal. They are called dart frogs because indigenous Amerindians use of their toxic secretions to poison the tips of their blow-darts. Poison dart frogs keep their poison in their skins and will sicken or kill anybody who touches or eats it.



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