Horror frog makes its own claws
MICHAEL KESTERTON
The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Mar. 31 2013, 4:00 PM EDT
Last updated Sunday, Mar. 31 2013, 4:00 PM EDT
"‘Amphibian horror’ isn’t a movie genre, but on this evidence perhaps it should be,” says the New Scientist. “Harvard biologists have described a bizarre, hairy frog with cat-like extendable claws. Trichobatrachus robustus actively breaks its own bones to produce claws that puncture their way out of the frog’s toe pads, probably when it is threatened. David Blackburn and colleagues … think the gruesome behaviour is a defence mechanism. The researchers say there are salamanders that force their ribs through their skin to produce protective barbs on demand, but nothing quite like this mechanism has been seen before.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/horror-frog-makes-its-own-claws/article10567688/
I'm not sure ....... maybe others have heard of this strange froggie before, but it seemed a little weird to me.
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