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Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

(www.nps.gov)
501 points thunderbong | 1 comments | 15 Nov 24 18:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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metalman ◴[15 Nov 24 19:08 UTC] No.42149862[source]▶
cant even call that hibernation. There are other knock on advantages to bieng frozen solid, it would slow down and even kill a lot of infectious microbes.It may convey a certain life extension benifit. And threre is not much behavioral adaptation needed,frog gets chilly, snuggles under a leaf,freezes solid, gets defrosted 8 months later and wakes up hungry and horny, not bad.
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duskwuff ◴[15 Nov 24 19:46 UTC] No.42150199[source]▶
> it would slow down and even kill a lot of infectious microbes

I wouldn't count on it killing them. The cryoprotectants in the frog's body don't discriminate; they'll protect foreign bacteria just as well as the frog's cells.

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1. m463 ◴[16 Nov 24 07:06 UTC] No.42154976[source]▶
I would imagine the frog's internal ecosystem has co-evolved with lots of bacteria that can also be frozen solid.