Frog Awakenings

Photo by William Locascio

Now that spring has truly arrived in New Jersey, all kinds of miraculous rebirths are before us in nature.

My friend Bill's backyard pond in northern NJ has always had a few frog visitors and this week a new one has found the pond.

In early April, that frog would have been still frozen awaiting the spring thaw. If its heart turns on before its brain, the brain would be too cold to get oxygen and the circulatory system would dam up and fail. If the brain turns on before the heart, that brain would be starved for oxygen and die. But somehow, all those organs awaken at the right time and they emerge.

Amazing.