Maybe tadpoles aren't as stupid as they look.

Last night my pond froze over. By lunchtime the sun had melted the ice
and my newly-hatched tadpoles were basking in warm water trapped on top
of their mass of jelly. The rest of the pond was still bitterly cold.

Sorry about the picture quality.



--
Sue ]

"MadCow" wrote in message
...

Maybe tadpoles aren't as stupid as they look.

Last night my pond froze over. By lunchtime the sun had melted the ice
and my newly-hatched tadpoles were basking in warm water trapped on top
of their mass of jelly. The rest of the pond was still bitterly cold.

I've noticed that spawn and tadpoles aren't affected by the hardest of
frosts. The jelly must act as an insulator to the eggs and tinies and once
they're hatched they must have a natural anti-freeze in their bodies like
other creatures have which have to withstand harsh (to us) conditions.

Mary

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:50:55 +0000, MadCow wrote:


Maybe tadpoles aren't as stupid as they look.

Last night my pond froze over. By lunchtime the sun had melted the ice
and my newly-hatched tadpoles were basking in warm water trapped on top
of their mass of jelly. The rest of the pond was still bitterly cold.

Sorry about the picture quality.
Now whoo wuz it that said they mite be toast?
Good for the mass of jelly.

joevan wrote:
On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:50:55 +0000, MadCow wrote:

Maybe tadpoles aren't as stupid as they look.

Last night my pond froze over. By lunchtime the sun had melted the ice
and my newly-hatched tadpoles were basking in warm water trapped on top
of their mass of jelly. The rest of the pond was still bitterly cold.

Sorry about the picture quality.
Now whoo wuz it that said they mite be toast?
Good for the mass of jelly.


Me, but I also suggested that the jelly would prevent freezing, which is
the killer, not the cold as such.

--


Wolf

"Don't believe everything you think." (Maxine)

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:33:07 -0500, Wolf
wrote:

joevan wrote:
On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:50:55 +0000, MadCow wrote:

Maybe tadpoles aren't as stupid as they look.

Last night my pond froze over. By lunchtime the sun had melted the ice
and my newly-hatched tadpoles were basking in warm water trapped on top
of their mass of jelly. The rest of the pond was still bitterly cold.

Sorry about the picture quality.
Now whoo wuz it that said they mite be toast?
Good for the mass of jelly.


Me, but I also suggested that the jelly would prevent freezing, which is
the killer, not the cold as such.
Yes, I went back to the original post and responses and read your
follow up which I had not seen before, but then I was just funning as
you mite know. Anyway I am glad they made it and we will get to see
the frogies soon.
As a child in Virginia in the 40's I remember catching them from the
ditches and putting them in glass containers and watching them morph.
Seeing the tiny fins become legs and such was and awe inspiring thing
to me as a young boy. It is still a fascination today.

In message , joevan
writes

As a child in Virginia in the 40's I remember catching them from the
ditches and putting them in glass containers and watching them morph.
Seeing the tiny fins become legs and such was and awe inspiring thing
to me as a young boy. It is still a fascination today.

I haven't watched frogspawn grow up since I was in infants' school about
1960. The school had three old shallow stoneware sinks let into a bank
beside the playground, letting us get right up close to tadpoles in a
fairly natural environment.
"Close" could mean noses actually touching the water!

I'm told the infants of today are just as spellbound (except the one who
put salt in the bucket with his class' tadpoles to see what'd happen -
they died, but the class learnt something.)

--
Sue ]