I'm sure you've heard this before, I remember hearing about this in both high school and college science classes.  We were all told how we had to control pollution because trace amounts of chemicals in the environment were causing frogs to be deformed, born less one or more legs. 

Well, like most things that environmentalists say, that was utter bullshit.  As it turns out, mutations aren't the cause of the lost leg to begin with, dragonfly nymphs (larvae) are.  What happens is the larvae attack tadpoles in the early stage of a tadpole's development.  The dragonfly larvae will eat the developing legs of a tadpole, the reason being that the legs of a tadpole develop their poison glands in their legs later than their bodies.  It also takes time for the tadpole to develop the regenerative capabilities of a frog, so if a larvae eats the leg at the right stage of development, it won't grow back, many die, but a few make it, and thus, the one legged frogs.  

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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