The Frogsicle Story - Nature Labs

Estimated Read Time: 2 minutes

Frogsicles?

This is a popsicle. This is a wood frog. This is a chorus frog. And guess what? They all share a common trait. They freeze at cold temperatures.

What? Bear with me.

Both species are tiny. Like the size of your thumb tiny. We associate frogs with marshes and wetlands, and that’s not wrong, but they also require forests. Like for when they become frogsicles.

Frogsicles? Yes, frogsicles. Hold on, almost there.

They do need small pools of water to sing their song of the spring and lay their thousands of eggs. By small pools of water, I’m talking pools of melting snow, ditches and if they find water in a tire track first? Done. It’s where the chorus frog will breed.

All of which means these frogs, while far from endangered, are more habitat dependent and pollution sensitive than many of the big endangered mammals. It’s only the ease with which they reproduce that stops them from being threatened. And that’s why they often can help us better understand the health of the ecosystems where they live.

Why should you care about a thumb-sized frog? Well, they provide critical food for animals up the food chain. Like salamanders. Who are eaten by otters. Who can be preyed on by coyotes and wolves. Who regulate ungulates like elk. You get the idea. Circle of life and all that.

More critically, frogs eat mosquitoes, making them the best friend and favourite animal of every Canadian.

But that’s not why they’re cool. You see, both wood and chorus frogs are basically zombies. When it gets cold, they freeze. Like popsicles. Except in this case, they’re frogsicles. It’s an actual scientific term, go look it up.

Both species develop a unique anti-freeze chemical that allows, essentially, for size-controlled icicles to form in their bodies, around their cells, but not in their cells. Basically, 70% of their body freezes – their heart stops beating, they stop breathing – but 30% doesn’t, so they don’t die.

And when spring comes? They become the undead – melting and continuing to go about their lives like they weren’t just a frog-sized popsicle.

So, there you have it. Mosquito murdering, zombie popsicle frogs. The most important thing you’ve ever learned? No. The most interesting thing you’ve learned today? Without question.

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