Many people don’t like frogs or toads, but these creatures are beneficial because they eat tremendous amounts of insects that would otherwise be pests. Millions of frogs and toads are in just about every warm part of the world in remarkable varieties. Here are a few.
The golden toad lives in Costa Rica. 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 mouth 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 its surroundings if danger is near.
A tiny one in Chile has the strange name of rhinoderma darwini. Its back and legs are bright red, but its belly is dark green. Instead of laying eggs in ponds, this one lays them on moist ground. When they hatch and 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 hunting darts. This frog’s eggs are laid on damp ground. 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 frog, 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.
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, while changes may take place within a kind, nothing changes from one kind into another. Dogs are still dogs and men are still men. 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 always gives us the truth.
(to be continued)
ML-06/11/2006