Wood Frogs
Storyboard Text
- It is currently late fall and the temperature is cooling down. You can see a wood frog by the river bed drinking some last bits of water before winter. Instead of releasing the urine like humans, they store it for the upcoming winter season.
- It is now winter and the temperature is in the negatives. Our frog here is beginning to prepare for winter. The frog is ectothermic (homeostasis) and would freeze to death in the winter however luckily for the frog, its genetic code has the perfect thing to help it survive.
- Through evolution, the frog's DNA allows it to freeze itself during the winter however as the frog freezes so do its blood vessels making it harder for the red blood cells to do their job.
- As the body freezes so do the water in the frog's body. If more than 60% of the body's water is frozen then it does irreversible damage to the cells within the body and, in a worst-case scenario, can even lead to death.
- When the body is near dehydration, it sends a stimulus that causes the liver to produce more glucose. Remember the urine that was stored during spring? The frog's body combines the urine and glucose creating an antifreeze that helps the frog maintain its water content. As the frog's body becomes fully frozen, all organs start to slow down and its metabolism enters a near halt in order to conserve energy.
- As spring finally rolls around, the frog begins to thaw and regain movement in its body. Now the frog can go collect food, pee, and most importantly find a mate to reproduce with. It's important that it finds one soon so, that by the time winter rolls around again the offspring are fully grown and developed. Once they are mature, they can go through the process that their parent went through in winter.
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