The Glass Frog That Hides Its Blood
Real animals that sound made up. Every claim in these episodes is checked against published science or museum sources.
The story
When this little frog sleeps, it hides nearly all its blood in its liver to turn see-through. Meet the glassfrog of Central America. At rest, its muscles and skin go clear. You can see bones, eyes, and organs. In 2022, Duke researchers used special imaging and found resting glassfrogs pull about 90% of their red blood cells out of circulation.
They pack those cells into the liver, which has a mirror-like lining that helps hide the red. Now when the frog wakes up and gets moving, those cells flow right back into the blood. And somehow they don't form a dangerous clot. Scientists are still trying to figure that part out. So, what do we really got?
We got a tiny leaf frog with a blood-hiding trick as reported in the journal Science. I wish I had this trick. It would come in handy when I'm out there turkey hunting. I'm Poss Jonah.