{"id":21359,"date":"2025-03-26T11:26:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=21359"},"modified":"2025-03-26T11:26:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:26:38","slug":"frog-blog-fronds-of-frogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2025\/03\/26\/frog-blog-fronds-of-frogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Frog Blog: Fronds of Frogs!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Frogbloginning (Frog-blog-beginning)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a while, hasn\u2019t it? Yet the frog blog still returns! I\u2019ve been looking forward to writing one all senior year, but I haven\u2019t actually gotten on it until now. I just can\u2019t go into May without a frog blog. It\u2019s mandatory to my heart. I love frogs. And information. And sharing information. Basically, I really wanted to do a frog blog before senior year gets out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really do feel like there should be more to say here, though. I mean, graduation is approaching faster than I ever want it to be. We\u2019re getting a class for personal projects. Senior showcases are looming. But I guess part of frog blogging joy is that we don\u2019t have to discuss all that. We just need to discuss frogs! And boy, do I have some frogs to share. Course the hype through your veins. Away we frog! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grey Foam-Nest Tree Frog<\/strong> (Chiromantis xerampelina)<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Source 1)<\/a> (Source 2)<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first found out about these frogs through a friend! They sent me a video of this species making a foam nest, and it was immediately insane. However normal they may look, they aren\u2019t! They\u2019re an arboreal species, meaning they live in trees. Though you could spot them visiting some water source to rehydrate, you probably wouldn\u2019t see them swimming or even just sitting in a lake. To survive dry spells, their skin isn\u2019t as permeable as other frogs, and they change color according to temperature! Dark to light are the colors they can go through. Darkening their color allows them to absorb more heat from the sun, while lightening their color allows them to reflect <\/em>heat. There\u2019re even more adaptations they have which you can check out if you click the sources. I just know what you\u2019re mainly wondering about: their name. These frogs build nests of foam to hold their eggs! Female foam-nest frogs, which are bigger than the males, secrete a kind of mucus from their cloaca, which they churn into foam using their back legs. The foam will then harden a bit on the outer later, all in all protecting the eggs and keeping them moist. Female foam nesting frogs do this with a lot of males present to fertilize the eggs. They also build their nests above water sources, so once the eggs turn to tadpoles, they can eventually wriggle out of the foam and into the water below. Keeping the eggs out of the water until then increases the chances of survival. Developing into a tadpole only takes about six days for a grey foam-nest tree frog! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water-Holding Frog<\/strong> (Cyclorana platycephala)<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Source 1)<\/a> (Source 2)<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water holding frog! Like the foam-nest frog, this frog is pretty much its name, too! They live in areas with dry periods, meaning they\u2019re on their own when it comes to water a lot of the time. For frogs, that sounds pretty impossible, but its actually really interesting how species adapt to live without the things they need. Water-holding frogs go about this by aestivating and burrowing! Aestivation is basically hibernation but in the hot, dry season of summer instead of winter. During aestivation, deep inside their muddy burrows, water-holding frogs shed layers and layers of their skin, all the while secreting a watertight mucus. The shed and mucus lines their burrow, allowing them to maintain their water with more efficiency. And, while they survive off all the nutrition they stored while awake, they may eat their den lining if they need to. It doesn\u2019t end here, either! All of this would constitute the name \u2018water-holding\u2019, but the name is from the fact they absorb up to half their body weight in water. They store all of that water in their bladder in skin pockets to survive aestivation. Even if it takes years, the water-holding frog can arise from its burrow again, froggy as always. On the surface, they feed, breed, then fill up on water again to hit the burrow.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fringed Leaf Frog <\/strong>(Cruziohyla craspedopus)<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Source 1)<\/a> (Source 2)<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also called the fringed tree<\/em> frog, and most definitely one of the most colorful guys to ever color. (Not really, but you know what I mean.) You\u2019d think the hues they flaunt would mean danger- toxins, poisons-!- but you\u2019d be wrong! Fringed leaf frogs are safe to handle. For you, at least. Don\u2019t go picking up frogs willy-nilly. These frogs do, however, change color! They rapidly switch into brown hues during the night, then return to vibrancy in the day. They also hide their yellow underbellies when adhering to a surface for camouflage. As for where they live, it\u2019s high up in the treetops. Their eggs can be found on ground level, as they only descend to breed! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red-Eyed Tree Frog <\/strong>(Agalychnis callidryas)<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Source 1)<\/a> (Source 2)<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And lastly, I thought it would be neat to close with a classic frog! The kind you see in cartoons and logos and whatnot. We all know the red-eyed tree frog, but what do we actually know <\/em>about it? For starters, they\u2019re nocturnal, like a lot of other frogs. They can also change their color to brownish or dark green! They lay eggs on the undersides of leaves (over a pond) or on the shores of ponds, then leave the eggs soon after. One of the biggest things to me was finding out the purpose of their eyes. Why red? It turns out the red is for a thing called startle coloration! Imagine one moment you\u2019re about to eat a little green morsel, then suddenly it looks up with gigantic, burning red peepers. They\u2019re meant to spook predators out of eating them. Pretty neat! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frogblogending (Frog-blog-ending)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019d be surprised how difficult it is to get a conclusive call on a frog\u2019s scientific name. Research takes time, but it\u2019s fun, and it only gets better with frogs. Don\u2019t feel afraid to share your own frog facts in the comments below, if you so wish! Or just share what your favorite frog is, on the list or not. There\u2019s so much out there! Until next time, frog blog out. The frogs are never ending! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frogbloginning (Frog-blog-beginning)  It\u2019s been a while, hasn\u2019t it? Yet the frog blog still returns! I\u2019ve been looking forward to writing one all senior year, but I haven\u2019t actually gotten on it until now. I just can\u2019t go into May without a frog blog. It\u2019s mandatory to my heart. I love frogs. And information. And sharing … Continue reading “Frog Blog: Fronds of Frogs!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21359"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21373,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21359\/revisions\/21373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}