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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Mary's Monday Metazoan: Mimics!
Category: Organisms
Posted on: December 28, 2009 8:28 AM, by PZ Myers
Find more posts in: 
Life Science
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TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/127992
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Comments
Posted by: Fred The Hun
|
December 28, 2009 8:52 AM
Too easy! I used to specialize in spotting tree frogs at 200 paces in the Brazilian rain forest.
Didn't even have to try in this case.
Posted by: The Science Pundit
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December 28, 2009 9:00 AM
Woo-hoo! I aced the quiz. (although it really wasn't that hard)
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
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December 28, 2009 9:13 AM
You know who has really good camouflage? God. Did you see him in any of those pictures? I rest my case.
Posted by: Michelle R
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December 28, 2009 9:26 AM
I just woke up, looked at this and it went something like that:
"Hmmm something's hidden! I see it! It's a frog! ...wait a minute...there's another one I think. And another one. Damn! They're good. They could be hiding in my closet."
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
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December 28, 2009 9:47 AM
Take a very close look before you use your toothbrush again. I'm just sayin'.
Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes
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December 28, 2009 9:54 AM
Clever leaves! So hard to find among the frogs.
Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawngQCTeX9lyVFw2mdSMqajxPq1wTLVu8_w
|
December 28, 2009 10:30 AM
I actually only saw one frog at very first glance, but I spotted 'em when I clicked through. The katydid took me a minute too.
Of course, the pest I worry most about out here is jet black with a red hourglass, so spotting camouflage isn't always my first concern.
Posted by: Peter G.
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December 28, 2009 10:55 AM
Ooh! I found Waldo. He was buried in a shallow grave and covered with leaf litter. Millions of children will be relieved.
Posted by: Frank b
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December 28, 2009 11:09 AM
I went to the Smithsonian in '92 and saw an insect exhibit. I walked up to a glass case to look for a South American walking stick. I searched intently for about a minute and finally spotted one, and than shortly found another, then another, then another. I almost fell backwards, the case was full of them. Practice and experience are handy in spotting these things.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo
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December 28, 2009 11:28 AM
Camouflage and object-mimicry are among the best and most intuitively straightforward examples of adaptation-via-natural-slxn there are. Excellent intr-bio teaching material for that reason.
Posted by: Mobius
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December 28, 2009 11:45 AM
Why is it we see frogs that look like leaves, but not leaves that look like frogs?
Posted by: vanharris
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December 28, 2009 11:55 AM
Mobius, it's because there's more cost/benefit advantage to frogs that mimic leaves than to plants with leaves that mimic frogs.
Posted by: PZ Myers
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December 28, 2009 11:56 AM
Know any trees that need to blend in with a field of frogs?
Posted by: vanharris
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December 28, 2009 11:57 AM
Mobius, okay, that wasn't what you meant, eh.
Posted by: MrFire
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December 28, 2009 12:54 PM
Sadly, those froggies are now dead. And if they had been consipicuous, I wouldn't have stepped on them.
Natural selection also has a sense of irony, y'know.
Posted by: cousinavi
|
December 28, 2009 1:09 PM
Hate to threadjack, but I've waited long enough for Peez to notice...
Deepak Chopsticks is up to his traditional crap on HuffPo again.
You can read his craptastic septic spew here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/woo-woo-is-a-step-ahead-o_b_404311.html
My vicious and unhinged response to Deepak's vacuous WOO is here:
http://cousinavi.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/deepak-chopra-insists-on-being-a-muddle-headed-buffoon/
Posted by: Crewvy
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December 28, 2009 1:10 PM
Racing frogs?
Cool stripes.
Posted by: SEF
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December 28, 2009 2:31 PM
Lovely froggies!
Posted by: Judy L.
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December 28, 2009 3:23 PM
Full of coolness! I've never seen frogs look so much like origami. Thanks, PZ!
Posted by: Cogito
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December 28, 2009 7:29 PM
A few years back i was in Malaysia and wound up in a store that sold all kinds of amphibians, reptiles and arthropods (completely illegal of course). I looked into a glass tank and saw a couple of these tree frogs resting on a bed of leaves. I was amazed at their camouflage. Then, after I had been staring at them for a couple of minutes, I realized that there weren't actually any leaves at all in there - they were ALL tree frogs, probably around fifty of them. Amazing and sad.
Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes
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December 28, 2009 7:36 PM
From the mouth of an evilutionist! The leafy frog = the atheists worst nightmare. Call Ray and Kirk!
Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes
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December 28, 2009 10:14 PM
Duh. I meant the froggy leaf. I'm such an imbecile. Still, you ahev to admit as far as atheist's worst nightmares go...
Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes
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December 28, 2009 10:16 PM
I also meant "have". The imbecile remark stands.
Posted by: meadra
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December 29, 2009 8:52 AM
Thanks for posting this! My seven year old loved these pictures and is now clamoring for more. I already have him interested in spiders, so getting him interested in other "bugs" is a great thing, too. I'd be happy if he just saw bugs as "cool," like most boys with slimy and gross things, but he actually sees them as fascinating worthy studying.