When hubby and I were up in Alaska this past September, visiting our very dear friends, we stopped by Reflections Lake to walk the nature trail.
It was a beautiful nature trail and we enjoyed it very much! Along the way, we came across an educational signboard with this fascinating information:
“Imagine if our bodies could produce antifreeze to guard us from frostbite or freezing to death. The wood frog survives winter by doing just that – by making its own antifreeze.
“When temperatures drop below freezing, most of the water inside the wood frog’s body freezes solid; their blood and eyeball freeze, their heart stops beating, and all breathing and muscle movement cease.
“If our body’s tissue were to freeze, ice crystals would puncture through our cell walls causing irreparable damage. To survive freezing, the wood frog replaces much of the water inside its cells with glucose (a sugar) made by the liver. This syrup acts like antifreeze and prevents ice crystals from forming inside the cells. It also keeps the cells from dehydrating and collapsing. Meanwhile, the water between the cells turns to ice.
“The glucose feeds the cells throughout the winter when no other source of nutrition is available.
“Wood frogs remain in this frozen state underneath dead vegetation and snow, until spring brings warmer temperatures. Within hours of thawing, the wood frogs hop away toward shallow pools.”
Is that not amazing! I’ve always wondered what happens to all the little frogs in our forest when winter comes.
God is so amazing! Thank you God for being such a loving wonderful God to take care of little wood frogs in this way!
