X-Man Or African Frog?
Monday, June 23, 2008 - 18:20
in Biology & Nature
Biologists at Harvard University have determined that some African frogs puncture their own skin with sharp bones in their toes when threatened, using the bones as claws capable of wounding predators. It's not quite the X-Men's Wolverine (they can't cut through Magneto) but it's a nifty defensive mechanism. "Most vertebrates do a much better job of keeping their skeletons inside," said David C. Blackburn, a doctoral student in Harvard's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. "It's surprising enough to find a frog with claws. The fact that those claws work by cutting through the skin of the frogs' feet is even more astonishing. These are the only vertebrate claws known to pierce their way to functionality." Read More...
Read the whole article on Scientific Blogging
More from Scientific Blogging
Related
- When threatened, a few African frogs can morph toes into clawsMon, 23 Jun 2008, 12:29:29 EDT
- New 'biofactories' produce rare healing substances in the endangered Devil's claw plantSun, 16 Aug 2009, 15:42:18 EDT
- Crafty Australian crayfish cheatFri, 27 Feb 2009, 3:15:10 EST
- Origin of claws seen in 390-million-year-old fossilThu, 5 Feb 2009, 14:37:00 EST
- Ten new amphibian species discovered in ColombiaMon, 2 Feb 2009, 13:56:59 EST