Many people don’t like frogs or toads, but these creatures are a benefit to us by eating tremendous amounts of insects that would otherwise be pests. Also, they provide food for many people who enjoy eating frog legs. Millions of frogs and toads are in just about every warm part of the world in remarkable varieties. Let’s look at a few.
Down in Costa Rica is the golden toad. The entire body of the male is a bright golden orange, but the female has areas of mixed colors most made of spots about the size of a penny.
Another unusual one is the red-eyed Mediterranean tree frog. It lives in the swamps of Spain. Its throat and lower lips are white as snow, but sides are pale yellow with big spots of black. Its underparts are bright green. It can change colors to match whatever is close by if danger is near.
A tiny one in Chile has the odd name of rhinoderma darwini. It is bright red over its back and legs, but has a dark-green stomach. Instead of laying eggs in ponds, this one lays them on moist ground. Then, when they begin to develop, the male frog snatches them into his mouth. He doesn’t eat them, but keeps them there until the frogs finally develop and hop out.
Poison-dart frogs have this name because their poisonous skin is used by some South American hunters on the points of their darts when hunting. Their eggs are laid on damp ground, and when the young hatch, the mother carries them piggyback to a water-filled plant high in a tree, where she brings them food until they are able to care for themselves.
Still another variety seems to eat the eggs it lays. The female actually tucks them away in the back of her mouth where they grow into froglets, which she then spits out without harm.
In North America all frogs lay eggs in water and leave them entirely on their own. But in some tropical places certain species provide additional care for their eggs, as well as the tadpoles hatching from them.
In parts of Europe an unusually long-legged brown one, covered with black spots, rises on its long legs and puffs out its round body with a fierce look to scare away snakes that come to attack it.
You may have noticed that one of the frogs mentioned has the name “darwini” attached to it. This was probably done by someone who believed in Darwin’s unproven idea of evolution and thought that’s how frogs came about.
But in our opening Bible verse the truth of God’s way of creation is explained to us with the words “after his kind.” This makes it plain that nothing was ever to change into something else. All things including humans were created just as we see them today. Another Bible verse also plainly explains this: “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another flesh of fishes, and another of birds.” 1 Corinthians 15:3939All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. (1 Corinthians 15:39). The Bible gives us the truth.
(to be continued)
ML-08/23/1992