Thinking Citizen Blog — “Bullfrogs Eat Everything” (National Geographic)
Thinking Citizen Blog — Wednesday is Climate Change, the Environment, and Sustainability Day
Today’s Topic: “Bullfrogs Eat Everything” (National Geographic)
The first link below shows bullfrogs eating everything from spiders and scorpions to rodents and birds. No big claws. No sharp beaks. No fangs. But very big mouths. “They even eat each other!” If you are curious about the sound of an American bull frog, click on the second link. Today, a few random notes on the American bullfrog (lithobates catesbeianus) as well as a few pictures. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THE MALES FORM CHORUSES — analogous to the “lek” formation of birds, mammals, and other vertebrates.
1. “A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate.”
2. “Choruses are dynamic, forming and remaining associated for a few days, breaking down temporarily, and then forming again in a new area with a different group of males.”
3. “Male movement has experimentally been noted to be dynamic In the Michigan study, the choruses were described as “centers of attraction” in which their larger numbers enhanced the males’ overall acoustical displays. This is more attractive to females and also attractive to other sexually active males. Choruses in this study were dynamic, constantly forming and breaking up. New choruses were formed in other areas of the site. Males moved around and were highly mobile within the choruses.”
NB: “To establish social dominance within choruses, bullfrogs demonstrate various forms of aggression, especially through visual displays. Posture is a key factor in establishing social position and threatening challengers.Territorial males have inflated postures while non-territorial males remain in the water with only their heads showing. For dominant (territorial) males, their elevated posture reveals their yellow-colored throats.”
INCREDIBLY FAST TONGUES — LIKE SLINGSHOTS
1. “The speed of a bullfrog’s tongue strike is much faster than it should be if muscles were the only force behind it.”
2. “Similar to the tension on a slingshot pulled all the way back, when the frog’s mouth is closed, tension is put into the elastic tissues of the tongue, and also into the elastic tendons of the lower jaw.”
3. “When the frog attacks prey, opening its mouth is like letting go of the slingshot; the elastic force stored up in both the tongue and the jaw are combined to shoot the tip of the tongue toward the prey much faster than the prey’s ability to see the strike and evade capture, completing the strike and retrieval in approximately 0.07 seconds.”
NB: “Another benefit of this elastic-force based attack is that it is not dependent on background temperature. A frog with a cold body temperature has muscles that move more slowly, but it can still attack prey with the same speed as if its body was warm.”
AMERICAN BULLFROGS CAN JUMP 10X THEIR BODY LENGTH
1. “Bullfrogs are able to jump distances 10 times their body length due to the ability of activating muscular contractile units prior to extension of the plantaris muscle.”
2, “In this process, sarcomeric contraction generates strain in elastic structures such as tendons, which in turn “catch” the energy generated by the strain.”
3. “Such is subsequently released as the plantaris actively stretched during jumping, adding to the energy generated by muscular action alone, thus generating supramaximal powers that allow the bullfrog to jump great distances.”
Bullfrogs Eat Everything | National Geographic
Bull frog call loud sounds and fight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bullfrog
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lek_mating
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOWS -
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, 11/17/20
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to climate change or the environment. Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to climate change that the rest of us may have missed. Your favorite chart or table perhaps…
This is your chance to make some one’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.
