Comments on: Frogs debug themselves by absorbing tracking devices into their bladders

By: blah

blah — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:58:44 +0000

Even the frogs are smart enough to not let anyone track them. Only humans are that stupid.

By: Gaia

Gaia — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:06:27 +0000

Frogs only have one hole, though: everything exits via the cloaca. In humans we have the expandable anus option or squeezing stuff out of the urethra – an evolutionary restriction that means pain in the japseye when excreting kidney stones, so I’m told.

By: Coturnix

Coturnix — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:09:54 +0000

I once had a Japanese quail expel a (large!) radiotransmitter by embedding it into an egg shell and laying it! Nobody, not even my PI, believed me! Now I feel vindicated – these kinds of things are possible, at least in some species…

By: Swift Loris

Swift Loris — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 04:39:28 +0000

How big are the transmitters?

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:23:18 +0000

@4. Daniel J. Andrews,

Yeah, I understand that passing a kidney stone can be painful. What’s it like for a frog to pass a tracking transmitter? Sounds like an owie.

By: Daniel J. Andrews

Daniel J. Andrews — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:51:05 +0000

We had a similar problem with our fish (northern pike, lake trout) ejecting their internal transmitters through the skin back in the early 90s. That was the first I’d heard about that at the time so was pretty “wow’d”. Through the bladder is even cleverer though.

Good thing humans aren’t as adept at this–you don’t want to be passing pacemakers and artificial knees through the same route as the frog (or a fish, for that matter). Ow.

By: Aurora

Aurora — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:00:08 +0000

I had the same thought as Walter S. Andriuzzi: I wonder how herpetologists will adapt to this new info… But you have to love the way Nature beats us at every turn!

By: Walter S. Andriuzzi

Walter S. Andriuzzi — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:52:08 +0000

I wonder what erpetologists will come up with now to track these wee-powerful frogs. Larger transmitters? They could hamper the animal and reduce its survival potential. Inserting them in other body cavities? If even the peritoneum wasn’t safe. Perhaps something on the skin? I see problems with that too. Mmm…

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:10:22 +0000

The CIA was pissed . . .