6 minute read
The Fantastic Freezing Frogs of Northeastern PA
By Kathy Dubin-Uhler, Director of the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
Ilove the first days of spring. The vernal equinox is a day of celebration for me overshadowed only my wedding anniversary and the last day of school. The latter part of March brings brighter sun, the rich aromas of organic decay, and the calling of our earliest spring frogs. Life, it seems, is renewed… and more than figuratively at that.
There are three species of frogs in the Poconos that literally do “come back to life”. The Wood frog, Gray tree frog and Spring peeper burrow under the leaf litter in the fall and literally freeze until the ground thaws in the spring. It’s a feat of nature that we are just beginning to really understand and can reproduce in humans only in science fiction movies. Special proteins cause the water in the blood to freeze first. This ice sucks most of the water out of the frog's cells. If water inside cells were to freeze, it would break them open, killing the frog.
WOOD FROG
At the same time the frog's liver starts making large amounts of glucose, the same sugar we burn for energy, which packs into cells preventing their collapse and freezing. This syrupy solution helps prevent any more water from being pulled out of the frog's cells, which would destroy them. Humans lack these special proteins. So when our skin freezes, we get frostbite, which sucks all the water out of our cells and causes them to collapse. Even after thawing, it's too late. All the cells are broken Spring peeper because humans haven't made all that sugar. The frogs, however, enter a state of suspended animation. Inside the cells there's thick sugary syrup, while outside the cells all the water is frozen.
They may stay like this for months at temperatures down to 20°F. The heart stops and there is no brain activity. When temperatures warm and the ice melts, the frogs thaw. Water
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
slowly flows back into the cells, blood starts flowing again, and the frog revives. In less than a day, the heart begins to beat, pumping blood through the thawed “frog-cicle”, it starts to blink, then breathe, then it hops away.
The next time you think you are so cold you are “freezing to death”, think about our little tongue-flicking, bug-eating froggy friends frozen in suspended animation under the leaves. Spring really is a season of “renewed life”.
GRAY TREE FROG
Freezing Frog Facts: Wood Frogs are our earliest emerging frogs, sometimes calling while there is still snow on the ground and they will continue until the end of April. They sound a lot like more like ducks than frogs, with a sound very “quack-like”. They are quite
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SEE IF YOU KNOW THE NAME FOR THE MALES AND FEMALES OF EACH OF THESE SPECIES LIVING IN THE POCONOS:
• Black bear • White-tail Deer • Duck • Swan • Fox • Falcon • Mink • Opossum • Rabbit
ANSWERS:
Bear – boar and sow Deer – buck and doe Duck – drake and hen or just duck Swan – cob and pen Fox – dog and vixen Falcon – tercel, falcon Mink – boar and sow Opossum – jack and jill Rabbit – buck and doe
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small, measuring on average around 2”, with the females larger than the males, as is typical for all frogs. Although the color varies from tan to brown or even grayish, all wood frogs have a prominent black mask which makes them among the easiest frogs to identify. There is also a white line on the upper lip. They live in moist woodlands from Georgia all the way into the Arctic Circle. Listen for them at night right now!!!
Spring Peepers are one of my favorite little frogs. They are tiny( 1-1 ½”) tree frogs which are named Hyla crucifer for the X (or crucifix) mark found on their backs. These are the small frogs we hear in magnificent (although less impressive than in decades past) chorus on warm spring evenings, calling “peep, peep, peep” by the hundreds in wetland areas. In a large group they almost sound like “jingle bells”. Most people believe they are hearing some sort of insect, but these little frogs just make a tremendous volume when hundreds are seeking mates all at the same time! As all tree frogs, peepers have “toe pads” which allow them to cling to vegetation in wetlands.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Gray treefrogs are often mistaken for peepers, but are slightly larger, have yellow on the underside of the hind legs and the belly is white. Of course, you have to pick the frog up to see that! The color of the Gray treefrog varies with its background and environmental factors such as season and humidity, but shades of gray are most common with black blotches on the back. Variations of brown, green, and gray colors have been noted. Green colors are more prominent during the breeding season and in yearling frogs. Calling begins in April and the sound is a high pitched trilling. Gray tree frogs have been seen clinging to windows on people’s houses.
Katherine Uhler is the director of the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center. She became a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in 1980 and has been growing the nonprofit, all-volunteer PWREC since. In addition to running the Center with her husband and co-director, Eric, she has earned a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Biology and teaches Ecology at Stroudsburg High School.
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