When you hear arctic animals, you most
likely would think of something big with really thick fur and giant paws or
antlers. But oddly enough, you can actually find a creature that looks so
fragile and sensitive that it’s better of leaping on lily pads in a pond.
There is a type of wood frog known as the Rana sylvatica which lives in the
colder areas of North America. These frogs are seen all throughout Georgia to
Canada and even to the Arctic Circle. What makes them so special is that they
have an ability to freeze themselves during the really cold seasons and thaw
out when the warmer seasons come in.
Numerous studies have been done on these
frogs extreme ability on freeze tolerance over the past 25 years, but a notable
one is by the Department of Zoology at Miami University in Ohio led by Jon
Costanzo. He wanted to learn more about how the Rana sylvatica could stand the
freezing and the chemical and physiological factors that comes with it.
However, the Rana sylvatica is not the only
animal that could actually survive the extreme cold. There are other reptiles,
insects and even marine species that thrive in ice cold environments. However,
only a number of these creatures have the Rana sylvatica freezing abilities.
These small amphibians can basically survive for a number of weeks even when
most of the water content in their bodies is completely frozen. They turn into
solid frogsicles under their frozen state during winter.
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