Label: Reptiles
November 26, 2012
Traveling LIke Spiderman
A gecko travels like Spiderman - using its sticky toe pads to walk up walls and across ceilings with ease.
While those toe pads may seem simple, they are spectacularly designed, with millions of tiny hair-like structures called septulae (SEP-too-lay) that help them cling to any dry surface. A single gecko’s toe pads can hold the weight of two humans!
Researchers have learned recently that this only works when the surface is dry. If a gecko gets wet feet, it loses its grip, along with its "Spiderman" powers!
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 9, 2012
Cool Photo: Frog in a Bog
It is cranberry harvest time all across the US and Canada. Cranberries grow on long vines in peat marshes - soft, marshy ground, usually near wetlands. When cranberries reach their peak color and plumpness this time of year, growers flood the fields with up to 18 inches (nearly one-half meter) of water. Then the farmers use machines to stir up the water - causing the cranberries to break from their vines and float to the top of the water so they can be harvested.
Our friend, the author/illustrator Scott Nash (his excellent new novel is THE HIGH SKY ADVENTURES OF BLUE JAY THE PIRATE), took this great shot of an unexpected bonus in amongst the cranberries. And that’s today’s Cool Photo of the Week - a blog about a frog in a bog on Cape Cod!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
February 29, 2012
Leap Day the Frog Way
The Smithsonian Institution is celebrating Leap Day with fun facts about frogs and their leaping abilities. Did you know that before the New Guinea bush frog leaps at a strange frog it puffs itself up and shows its blue tongue? Now THAT would be a sight to see!
There are more fun Leap Day frog facts and a frog song on the Smithsonian website. Click here to see for yourself.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
December 1, 2010
Cool Animal Photo of the Week
An Amazon milk frog (Trachycephalus resinifictrix) soaks up some rays on a flower in a zoo in Cleveland, Ohio.
Why are they called Milk Frogs? Because of the milky-looking fluid the frog excretes when it is stressed or threatened.
Photo by: Amy Sancetta/AP
Posted by: Seymour Simon
