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Old 26-06-08, 06:30   #1
rowanlim
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Default Frogs Pierce Skin With Claws of Bone

I thought this was really cool & creepy at the same time, I hope you guys will find it interesting

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Eleven species of African frogs—including Trichobatracus robustus (top) and Astylosternus perreti (bottom)—sport a Wolverine-like defense mechanism, scientists have announced. When threatened, the amphibians pierce their skin with toe bones, sprouting makeshift claws with which to attack predators.

David C. Blackburn, a biologist at Harvard University, came across the frogs while conducting fieldwork in Cameroon. When he picked up one of the fist-size amphibians, it kicked its hind legs violently.

"I was surprised to come across frogs that can give you such a nasty scratch when you pick them up," Blackburn said. "When I got back to the U.S., I used preserved museum specimens to study the anatomy of these claws, because it was obviously pretty unusual."

After going through 63 species of African frogs, Blackburn found that in at least 11, the bones at the ends of the toes are connected to smaller and sharper free-floating bones. These smaller end bones are part of structures called nodules that are connected to the rest of the foot by a collagen-rich sheath.

By flexing a certain foot muscle, the frog causes the bone to retreat from the nodule and pierce the skin, revealing a clawlike structure. Unlike ordinary claws, such as those of a cat's, the frog bones do not possess a protective coating of a protein known as keratin, nor do they emerge from a specialized structure in the foot.

The frogs, all in the genera Astylosternus, Trichobatracus, or Scotobleps, appear to employ this mechanism only when threatened, as revealing the claws causes traumatic damage to the frogs' skin.
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Here's a picture:


I really think this is amazing
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Old 26-06-08, 06:42   #2
TR 4 LIFE
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that is cool!! thanks for sharing Jo!!!
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Old 26-06-08, 07:00   #3
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There are some newts that use their ribs in pretty much the same way.

Amphibians are remarkable critters.
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Old 26-06-08, 07:03   #4
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Originally Posted by Tyrannosaurus View Post
There are some newts that use their ribs in pretty much the same way.

Amphibians are remarkable critters.
I didn't know that

From Wiki:
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The Iberian Ribbed Newt or Spanish Ribbed Newt (Pleurodeles waltl) is a newt endemic to the central and southern Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. It is known for its sharp ribs which can puncture through its sides, and as such is also called the Sharp-ribbed Newt.

The Iberian Ribbed Newt has tubercles running down each side. Through these, its sharp ribs can puncture. The ribs act as a defense mechanism, causing little harm to the newt. Ejection of the ribs rarely occurs in captive animals.

In the wild this amphibian grows up to 30 cm, but rarely more than 20 cm in captivity. Its color is dark grey on the back and lighter grey on its ventral side with rust-colored small spots where its ribs protrude. These newts have a flat spade-shaped head and a long tail which is about half their body length.

Males are slenderer and usually smaller than females. The larvae have bushy external gills and usually paler color patterns than the adults.

The Iberian ribbed newts are far more aquatic-dwelling than other European tailed amphibians. Even though they are quite able to walk on land, most rarely leave the water, living usually in ponds, cisterns and ancient village wells that were common in Portugal and Spain in the past. They prefer cool, quiet and deep waters, where they feed on insects, worms and tadpoles.
Cool, that's really amazing!
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