Why Glass Frogs Have See-Through Skin Becomes Clear In Study (theguardian.com) 22
The mystery of why glass frogs have see-through skin has been solved, scientists say: the unusual feature is a type of camouflage. The Guardian reports: Glass frogs are found in tropical Central and South America, and get their name from their skin. However, the frogs are not truly transparent but translucent, with the skin on their backs typically a vivid green and their intestines and heart visible through their underbelly. This has led to a question that has kept scientists on the hop. "If predators cannot see straight though the frogs, why do glass frogs have transparent skin at all, and not the opaque camouflaged patterns of other tree frog species?" said Dr James Barnett, a postdoctoral researcher at McMaster University, Canada, who co-authored the study.
Barnett and colleagues say they have cracked the conundrum. "The frog is always green to generally match leaves, but leaves will differ in their brightness," said Barnett. The team say that while the color of the frog's body changes little against dark or light foliage, the legs are more translucent and hence shift in brightness, helping the amphibians to blend in. "By having translucent legs and resting with the legs surrounding the body, the frog's edge is transformed into a softer, less contrasting gradient from the leaf to the legs, and again from the legs to the body," said Barnett, noting that this makes the frog's outline less recognizable to predators. Writing in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Barnett and colleagues report how they carried out three experiments.
Barnett and colleagues say they have cracked the conundrum. "The frog is always green to generally match leaves, but leaves will differ in their brightness," said Barnett. The team say that while the color of the frog's body changes little against dark or light foliage, the legs are more translucent and hence shift in brightness, helping the amphibians to blend in. "By having translucent legs and resting with the legs surrounding the body, the frog's edge is transformed into a softer, less contrasting gradient from the leaf to the legs, and again from the legs to the body," said Barnett, noting that this makes the frog's outline less recognizable to predators. Writing in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Barnett and colleagues report how they carried out three experiments.
Strange (Score:2)
Odd that they didn't see it, wasn't the transparency clearly visible?
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As you lay on your deathbed, what is the last song you ever want to hear?
That would be this [youtube.com]. I assume the valkyries will be singing it as the come to get me.
And it had better be Normaal performing it, not the bland Heidevolk version.
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I was always under the impression that most animals, don't have the same level as sight as we humans do. Hence why some fish and aquatic mammals have a light underbelly and a dark back. Because looking up from the water you see sunlight and bright colors, looking down, you see dark colors. A translucent frog, solves the same problem by just transmitting the light from the different directions. The fact you can see its heart and other organs, would require more keen visual skills, and even though who do
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It's easy to notice the difference in vision abilities even with dogs. The next time that you're out somewhere that they can run loose wait until they've been running for a while and come looking for you. If you don't move they probably won't see you if you're more than about 30 meters away, all you have to do is sway back and forth a bit and you become visible again. I learned that hunting with beagles as a kid, you didn't have to make a noise, just be visible to them occasionally and they'd keep huntin
Obviously (Score:5, Funny)
The frogs are still working on their cloaking device - this is only an intermediate testing release.
Re:Obviously (Score:5, Funny)
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That's racist!
As the saying goes (Score:5, Funny)
Evolution! (Score:1)
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The vision system of most predators works best with well-defined outlines. What the translucent legs do is to blur the edges of its outline, so rather than seeing 'frog' the predator sees a vague blur. The translucent belly is probably just a harmless side effect since the legs in many frogs are the same color as the belly..
One thing to remember: (Score:1)
Evolution does not require a reason for a property. It can have the reason of being advantageous. But if it isn't disadvantageous either, it can just be random chance. There are certainly enough random mutations to go around.
Tech could be used with snes9x or nestopia (Score:1)
To explain this to nerds, the translucent legs act as a CRT filter to provide that soft blending of pixels that modern emulators lack.
The world is saved! (Score:3)
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Why do you think Science needs to fix problems?
Isn't learning for the sake of understanding a worthy enough goal?
The scientists look to see why something is what it is. Engineers and the like, can use the Why and change it into a How.
Sometimes things become useful, sometimes they don't. Sometimes it can take a hundred years for this knowledge to be practical.
Gelatine Frogs (Score:2)