What do migration, hibernation and stocking up all have in common? They are all techniques animals use to survive the freezing temperatures of winter. Freezing presents a serious threat to many animal species. However, what do animals do when they can’t out smart the cold? For the case of the wood frog, they simply embrace it and bring a whole new meaning to being frozen solid.
Lithobates sylvaticus, or the wood frog, are found inhabiting forests stretching from the Appalachians to the Arctic Circle (Miami, n.d.). They are one of the only species capable of freezing their bodies solid to survive sub zero temperatures. This incredible adaption allows wood frogs, such as the one shown in Figure 1, to thaw and emerge unharmed after the freezing temperatures have passed. Freeze tolerance refers to an animal’s ability to survive the freezing of bodily fluids (Costanzo, Lee, Lortz, 1993). For the terrestrial hibernating wood frog, the ability to freeze completely without cell damage, is a crucial …show more content…
As a result of extensive freezing, tissues begin to solidify, vascular circulation arrests and cells become deprived of oxygen. The formation of ice in the bodily fluids presents a major danger to wood frogs as it may cause mechanical injury or tissue separation. Figure 2 shows the completed process for wood frog freezing.
Despite all these risks, wood frogs are able to overcome most of the hazards of freezing. A key component to this is the gradual induction of the freezing mechanisms to guarantee their success (Miami, n.d.). Regardless of these dangers, upon thawing the recovery rate for these amphibians is rather rapid. Within a couple hours, wood frogs regain basic physiological and behavioral functions. As time progresses, more complex systems also begin to function as they did before the freezing had