Pharyngula::Exploding toads?

Pharyngula has moved to http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

Monday, April 25, 2005

Exploding toads?

PZ Myers • 35 Comments (last page)

Les Lane sent this one along: Mystery of the exploding toads:

Several thousand toads in the city's parks have so far mysteriously spontaneously exploded, sending entrails and toad body parts over a wide area.
Vets and animal welfare workers said the mystery has decimated the city's toad population as well as the unpleasant problem of leaving toad parts scattered around parks and open spaces.
Eyewitnesses say the toads swell up to three and a half times their normal size before suddenly exploding - sending entrails flying metres into the air.

I suspect an Intelligent Agency, myself.

OK, I'm pretty sure this photo is hyperbole.

Trackback url: http://pharyngula.org/index/trackback/2213/OP9GimTu/

Comments:

#23030: Rana — 04/25 at 07:35 PM
Ah! This must explain all the people coming to my site today using the search string exploding frogs.

(These people obviously don't appreciate the difference between frogs and toads.)

#23031: Rana — 04/25 at 07:36 PM
At least, I hope this is why they are interested...

#23032: Murph — 04/25 at 07:40 PM
A guy I used to work with told me that when he was a kid he went frog hunting with some tougher boys who, when they captured the frogs, stuck a straw up their (the frogs, not the kids) butts and inflated them, then shot them with rubber bands and paperclips.

Unless tough kids are wearing invisibility cloaks, that option is out, apparently.

D

#23034: — 04/25 at 07:52 PM
Um, Murph... give us a break.

We all know that it was in fact you who blew up the sweet, innocent frogs. Shame on you!

"A guy I used to work with..."

Yeah, right!

Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

-Jerry Garcia

#23038: coturnix — 04/25 at 08:58 PM
It's Dubya! He did it as a kid, and now he is at it again!

Seriously, if they are literally exploding, they are distented by gas (not food etc.). They must have swalloed something that releases gas. What can that be? A bacterial infection? Popcorn? I hope we get an update once the mystery is solved.

#23042: — 04/25 at 09:38 PM

They must have swalloed something that releases gas.

Yes. I remember (back in the day) hearing on the playground that Alka-seltzer is a potent "duck blower-upper."

Could this be true of toads, as well?

I reluctantly admit that I tried it (with ducks) on a number of occasions (6th grade)... with no results.

Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

-Jerry Garcia

#23043: Chris — 04/25 at 09:43 PM
Would anyone really put something like this past the pentagon?

#23056: — 04/25 at 10:46 PM
It could be .. a defence mechanism against aggressive crows which have appeared in the area recently. Now, that would be a novel defense mechanism: suicide bombing. In my times, I confess to having experimented on toads, but how to make them explode? Maybe by obturing their natural openings. Someone should verify this hypothesis.

Quod natura non sunt turpia

#23062: Rana — 04/26 at 12:02 AM
Heh. Now I'm getting all kinds of people coming to my site from this thread.

Sorry to disappoint you, people, but I don't really talk very much about actual frogs. If you want silly quizzes, occasional rants, and infrequent posts about nature, yoga, or knitting, sure, come on by.

Just don't expect to find any exploding amphibians of any kind. ;)

(I like frogs -- the idea of exploding them for fun makes me sick.)

Trackback: Exploding Frogs = Intelligent Design? Tracked on: The Panda's Thumb (66.12.166.227) at 2005 04 26 00:35:33
Exploding toads -- designed?

#23066: — 04/26 at 01:44 AM
If you want to see something explode, look at this. You need Quicktime to watch it. Just be glad
you can only see it, and not smell it.
http://home.comcast.net/~sthacks/whale/media/whale.vid-hi.mov

Just be careful. I may have hurt myself laughing at it.

#23069: Republic of Palau — 04/26 at 05:24 AM
I think this is one for those Myth-Busters guys. Exploding amphibians would do wonders for their veiwing figures.

#23073: — 04/26 at 06:58 AM

Ah! This must explain all the people coming to my site today using the search string exploding frogs.

Sadly, those people may be coming from Nick Matzke's thread at Panda's Thumb:
http://www.pandasthumb.org/pt-archives/000983.html

Poor Nick. He's gonna catch it now.

#23075: ~DS~ — 04/26 at 07:19 AM
yeah I think I'm gonna have to call bullshit on that tall toad tale until some pretty convincing evidence comes along.

#23080: Les Lane — 04/26 at 08:10 AM
Google news shows the story's spreading (even to timesonline!). From Scotland - "Boffins Baffled". Deutsche Welle has a wonderful picture. Surely there's someone out there who's done a thesis on exploding toads and can explain it all.

#23082: Les Lane — 04/26 at 08:35 AM
But aren't Germans too serious for hyperbole?

#23083: PZ Myers — 04/26 at 08:38 AM
You're right. It must be real.

PZ Myers
Division of Science and Math
University of Minnesota, Morris

#23085: Ron Sullivan — 04/26 at 08:54 AM
As you might imagine, I'm finding this at least as personally disturbing as Rana does. Maybe I should explode something on my own blog, though, and see if it gets me any traffic.

Not that I'd know; Chris has all the stats and he's all sequestered with his writing tools and all. I was envying him until I realized that there's no way in hell I could write where he is; even in summer there are too many birds there and I'd either be chasing them or gnawing my knuckles in frustration because I wasn't.

#23088: Virge — 04/26 at 09:24 AM
Ananova news.
Nuff said.

#23091: — 04/26 at 10:35 AM
Klar. Deutsche Welle trying to be light and jolly. Exploding toads. Typical German humor. You are allowed to laugh. Laugh! DW is excellent when it is itself, they have very good science programs.

Quod natura non sunt turpia

#23090: Murph — 04/26 at 10:35 AM
Jeebus, the friend I worked with died of cancer a few years ago, so I can't wave him in your face (well, not legally, anyway) and have him verify I'm telling the truth. But perhaps some malevolent frog deity is haunting him these days.

I will say that me and the frogs, we had a good thing going when I was a kid. They'd come hang out in the wash tub in the back yard for a couple of days, then I'd return them to their creek or swamp or pond. I swear on a stack of SCTV episodes that not one of them blowed up real good while on my watch.

D

#23096: — 04/26 at 11:50 AM
Sorry to hear about your friend, Murph.

And, I apologize for mistakingly labeling you as a frog-blower-upper. I checked out your blog, and I can tell you're a stand-up fellow.

As for your buddy's (would-be) guilt, I would never judge a man by his childhood antics (as mine were worse than most). Nonetheless, I'm sure he never meant any harm.

Take care, and cheers.

Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

-Jerry Garcia

#23104: — 04/26 at 12:53 PM
IF this is real... Maybe some disease is weakening the skin of the abdomen, then when the toads puff up in response to threats, the skin cannot hold their guts in and they just pop open. Certainly would be more credible than toads just exploding... *rolls eyes*

*Has mental image of screaming kids being splattered with toad blood and entrails as yet another anuran goes kaboom*

Say... this is starting to remind me of a few Happy Tree Friends episodes...

#23116: — 04/26 at 02:32 PM
Well, Danish newspapers (ok, and tabloids) report that it is also happening in mid-Jutland in Denmark, so it's not only a German phenomenom. For the geographically challenged, Jutland is the part of Denmark that actually is connected to Germany.

According to the Danish newspapers it mostly happends between two and three in the night.

References (in Danish):
Berlingske Tidende
Ekstra Bladet

#23117: John McKay — 04/26 at 02:35 PM
I think it's a political statement on the part of the toads. At any moment, I expect FoxNews to insist that we refer to them as "homicide toads."

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Monday, April 25, 2005

Exploding toads?

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