Zombie frogs? A ribbet-ing story of how frogs and toads survive winter – Herald Times Reporter

Kennedy Zittel, For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 10:14 a.m. CT Oct. 31, 2020

Jerry and Susan Theys started Wildlife of Wisconsin in 1994. Run out of their home in Cato, WI, they devote their time, money and energy to taking care of injured and sick wildlife as well as running educational programs across Wisconsin.

Halloween is almost here! With thatsaid, I have another scary tale to share. This time, about zombies!

Picture thisit is mid-winter, the temperature is well below freezing, ponds have frozen overand snow is piled all around. Below the soil and water lies a creature who has frozen solid whose heart has stopped beatingand who has long since stopped breathing. It certainly sounds like that creature has croaked!

Fast forward to spring the temperature is rising, the sun begins to shine more,and the ground and ponds begin to thaw. To your horror, the creature mentioned earlier unburies itself and rises to the surface. Ah!

But ...

... it is just a frog.

No worries, thoughthere really is no such thing as a zombie frog. But frogs and toads do possess a unique adaption that allows them to be able to survive the harsh winter.

A frozen wood frog.(Photo: National Park Service)

Frogs and toads are coldblooded, meaningtheir body temperature will become the temperature of the environment around them. Imagine your body turning the same temperature as the weather outside. Brr!

During the winter, frogs and toads will go into a state of hibernation. One common myth about how aquatic frogs hibernate is that they will burrow themselves completely under the mud. However, if frogs were to go completely under the mud, they would not have enough oxygen to survive.

Aquatic frogs, instead, spend the majority of winter either lying on top of the mud or partially buried in mud so they can reach the oxygen-rich water.

Terrestrial frogs and American Toads (Wisconsins only toad species) will often hibernate on land by burrowing deep into the soil below the frost line.

Terrestrial frogs that are not as well adapted to digging, like the Spring Peeper, will seek out cracks or crevices in rocks and logs to hibernate in instead.

The Wood Frog hibernates closest to the surface, which is why you will hear their calls the earliest in the spring, as they are usually the first to emerge.

How do the frogs come back to life then, if they arent actually zombies? Well, the frogs never technically die, even though their breathing and heart do stop. They actually end up completely frozen solid (like a frog-cicle!) as the weather gets well below freezing. As ice crystals begin to form underneath the frogs skin, parts of the frogs body will begin to freeze completely solid. The only part of a frog or toad that does not freeze completely is their vital organs.

A large concentration of glucose within a frogs vital organs will act as a natural antifreeze, thus preventing vital organs like the heart and lungs from fully freezing.

When the weather warms up to above freezing, the frogs and toads will begin to thaw, their hearts will begin to beat once more, their lungs will begin to work again, and come spring, they will unbury themselves and rise to the surface.

The ability frogs and toads have (along with other coldblooded animals of the area) to be able to survive after freezing allows them to live in the toughest of winter climates that would have us scrambling for our heaviest winter coats which, in my opinion, is toad-ally awesome!

Kennedy Zittel is a land management intern at Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve in Two Rivers.

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Zombie frogs? A ribbet-ing story of how frogs and toads survive winter - Herald Times Reporter

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