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Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

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Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#131

Post by MPSimmons »

kortilla wrote: post #63
MPSimmons wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

like maple syrup...

Or water… or anything else with a freezing point that the ambient temperature crosses at night

Oh sorry, I more meant specific to the times when you harvest maple syrup.

If you didn't know, you need to wait to harvest maple syrup until you have a series of days when the daytime temperature is above freezing and the nighttime temperature is below freezing. This causes the maple sap to flow and allows it to collect in the bucket.

https://botanistinthekitchen.blog/2013/03/18/maple-syrup-mec...

Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#132

Post by lukan »

jounker wrote: post #120
lukan wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Well I found a dead one and shoved pine nuts in to its mouth until I couldn't fit anymore, and managed to get 17 in there." That part is .. weird. What is the point except morbid humor? Chipmunks have a food storage, so they don't store nuts in their mouth. They wake up, go to the food storage and eat and go back to sleep. They don't go outside to collect more nuts in -40°C. Maybe that was the point of that calculat…

The number of seeds that fit into a cheek pouch determines calories transferred per trip to storage. Knowing this number will be critical for any modelling of chipmunk energetics.

They can also eat at the storage. Also some chipmunks have their food storage next to their bed.

So knowing how big the cheeks are, is a useful information, but in this context not clear.

Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#133

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

oharapj wrote: post #117
8n4vidtmkvmk wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why doesn't my heart keep beating if my brain dies then? Or would it?

Probably because the brain controls breathing and so the oxygen runs out quickly

I was going to say that's silly, but I guess we need to be able to hold our breath sometimes.

Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#134

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

tim333 wrote: post #109
8n4vidtmkvmk wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why we're not allowed to regrow limbs. What did that make room for in our DNA?

The only animal that really does it properly is the salamander and I guess our family trees diverged before they figured that out? Still scientists are working on it - they've done frogs https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/can-humans-regr...

Can't just be the salamander. I saw an iguana regrowing its tale just last week. Geckos too. Pretty sure starfish as well.

Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#135

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

macrolime wrote: post #98
8n4vidtmkvmk wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why we're not allowed to regrow limbs. What did that make room for in our DNA?

Some animals regenerate, some form scar tissue. It's thought that scar tissue is a cheaper and faster mechanism than regrowing limbs and has thus been selected in many cases.

If an iguana loses its tail, it doesn't just bleed until the new tail starts forming, right? Doesn't it seal up and then regrow?

Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#136

Post by pvaldes »

tim333 wrote: post #109
8n4vidtmkvmk wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why we're not allowed to regrow limbs. What did that make room for in our DNA?

The only animal that really does it properly is the salamander and I guess our family trees diverged before they figured that out? Still scientists are working on it - they've done frogs https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/can-humans-regr...

> The only animal that really does it properly is the salamander

Vertebrates are animals, but not all animals are vertebrates.

A lot of invertebrates can regrow lost organs or even heads. Insects lose it for the luxury of having wings, but other arthropods can regrow lost limbs if they live for enough moults. Planarians can regenerate everything.

Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#139

Post by card_zero »

yyyfb wrote: post #113
card_zero wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading about them, it seems they migrate in winter (like half a mile uphill), but the adults always return to the same breeding pond in spring, so that information is stored somewhere.

Couldn't it just be algorithmic? Go uphill in the summer, then downhill until you hit water, you'll probably end in the same pond?

The hit rate is 100%, apparently.

Re: Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

#140

Post by pmarreck »

abound wrote: post #66

> Nobody yet understands what starts the wood frog’s heart after being frozen and inert for the entire northern winter. To me, that's the most fascinating part of the (already quite fascinating) story. Frog is frozen solid, there is no (to our knowledge) heartbeat or brain activity. It thaws and something happens that gets it going again. I have trouble imagining what that mechanism could even look like. Tiny portion…

I'm thinking that there has to be something that is still keeping the rhythm going, maybe an extremely faint signal, all throughout that dormant period
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