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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 06/08/2009 :  08:16:40  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A frog is an object of worship -- all glory to the Hypnotoad!
The creature was discovered in a flower bed and now draws hundreds of followers to the home where it is kept in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Now one of India's top zoologists has decided he will study the unusual creature – provided it can be kept alive.

Reji Kumar, 35, a lift worker, said he is doing its best but the frog has lost its appetite.

"My one problem is that this frog does not appear to eat. I keep trying to feed it but it doesn't eat anything. I don't know what else to give it," he said.

He said the frog was white when he first spotted it but it soon changed to yellow and then grey by the time he got it home.

"By night the frog was dark yellow, and then it became transparent so you could see its internal organs," he said.






"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

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Kil
Evil Skeptic

USA
13476 Posts

Posted - 06/08/2009 :  11:09:39   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Kil's Homepage  Send Kil an AOL message  Send Kil a Yahoo! Message Send Kil a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by filthy

A frog is an object of worship -- all glory to the Hypnotoad!
The creature was discovered in a flower bed and now draws hundreds of followers to the home where it is kept in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Now one of India's top zoologists has decided he will study the unusual creature – provided it can be kept alive.

Reji Kumar, 35, a lift worker, said he is doing its best but the frog has lost its appetite.

"My one problem is that this frog does not appear to eat. I keep trying to feed it but it doesn't eat anything. I don't know what else to give it," he said.

He said the frog was white when he first spotted it but it soon changed to yellow and then grey by the time he got it home.

"By night the frog was dark yellow, and then it became transparent so you could see its internal organs," he said.







Wow. Well, it's a cinch that it eats something...

Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.

Why not question something for a change?

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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 06/08/2009 :  11:37:51   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Wow. Well, it's a cinch that it eats something...

Assuming that he's offering it appropriate food items -- small arthropods and vermiformis, and not vindaloos -- the problem is the conditions under which it is being kept. This is probably one of the tree frogs and requires a goodish humidity and places to hide during daylight. Unless it falls into the hands of someone who knows what he is doing, the animal will not survive.

A pity, really; I wanted to set up a shrine....



Cope's Grey Tree Frog, another color-changer, being green.





"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Zebra
Skeptic Friend

USA
354 Posts

Posted - 06/08/2009 :  20:07:29   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Zebra a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by filthy

A frog is an object of worship -- all glory to the Hypnotoad!
The creature was discovered in a flower bed and now draws hundreds of followers to the home where it is kept in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Now one of India's top zoologists has decided he will study the unusual creature – provided it can be kept alive.

Reji Kumar, 35, a lift worker, said he is doing its best but the frog has lost its appetite.

"My one problem is that this frog does not appear to eat. I keep trying to feed it but it doesn't eat anything. I don't know what else to give it," he said.

He said the frog was white when he first spotted it but it soon changed to yellow and then grey by the time he got it home.

"By night the frog was dark yellow, and then it became transparent so you could see its internal organs," he said.


Hmmm.

Call me skeptical, but can anyone find an independent report of this? Every report I've found gives the exact same story (same words), & only one has a photo (labeled "rainbow frog", it's a stock photo).

Tracking back where possible, it seems that the first "Exclusive!" report came from The Sun.

Kerala is reported to have a rich diversity of animal life, but in particular it's a hotbed of frog-related news:

1/2008: New frog species (shrub frog) found in Kerala

6/2008: Kerala school book has a picture of a frog instead of Gandhi

12/2008: Rare frog found in Kerala, feasts on termites

1/2009: Two 7-yr-old girls married to frogs to protect the village from mysterious diseases (from an area apparently next to Kerala)

Sounds like frogs figure prominently in the beliefs of people in Kerala, possibly related to the frogs which appear in Hindu mythology (something to do with Shiva & sex).

For example, Thavala Kali is a tribal dance from Kerala, in which dancers (usually boys) jump like frogs. Often performed at weddings.

So, the story might actually have come from Kerala, and people there may actually be worshipping a dying frog as a god, but I remain to be convinced that there is something new zoologically here.

All glory to the Hypnotoad, though!

I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone* -Dick Cheney

*some restrictions may apply
Edited by - Zebra on 06/08/2009 20:08:50
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