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Frog eats beetle, beetle escapes alive through frog's butt:
We've all eaten something that seems to run right through us, but rarely do our meals get to live another day once they leave our bodies. Yet that's exactly what happens when frogs snack on the aquatic beetle Regimbartia attenuata.
In a new study published Monday in the journal Current Biology, Kobe University ecologist Shinji Sugiura reveals more about the evolution of escape behavior in prey animals, most notably the aquatic beetle.
[...] When the Pelophylax nigromaculatus frog gulps the beetle, it can survive by swimming through the frog's digestive tract to later be pooped out intact and alive. Previously, it was suspected frogs spit out beetles that moved so erratically.
Sugiura revealed that 93 percent of the beetles fed to a frog during the study escaped the frog's "vent" (anus) within four hours, "frequently entangled in fecal pellets." The quickest beetle escape was an impressive six minutes.
Because the aquatic beetle has evolved to become a better swimmer by kicking its legs and can breathe underwater by trapping a small pocket of air under its wing covers, the beetle may have also evolved to survive inside a frog's intestines long enough to escape through its captor's tush.
A short video is available on Twitter and YouTube.
Journal Reference:
Shinji Sugiura. Active escape of prey from predator vent via the digestive tract, Current Biology (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.026)
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @10:08AM
Reminds me of a funny story about TMB!
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday August 09 2020, @10:18AM (2 children)
Wait, people think you need to be a beetle to be able to do that?
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday August 09 2020, @10:32AM
like this! [youtube.com]
(warning, seriously gross, disgusting scene from early Peter Jackson movie called "Bad Taste." Do not watch while eating. Utterly NSFW and NSFanywhere.)
Whole movie is available here [youtube.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:55PM
reincarnate as corn for best results
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @11:01AM
"predator vent"!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Sunday August 09 2020, @11:40AM (1 child)
Would also have been a passable 'dept', at least that's my gut feel.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:47PM
I like "just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."
-----
I believe the New York Times, sometimes.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @01:10PM (7 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @01:13PM (4 children)
https://immediatesafety.org/practice-safe-gerbiling/ [immediatesafety.org]
This leaves us with the issue of retrieval. Please, people. For the sake of the gerbil, use a leash. Not only will getting the little guy back go a lot more smoothly, but it’ll also eliminate the need for an embarrassing trip to the ER. We’ve found that doctors and nurses treat those x-rays like 6-year-old boys treat Pokémon cards.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:24PM (3 children)
There used to be a website rectalforeignobjects.com in the late 90s that featured these cases.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:44PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:47PM (1 child)
That's all behind me, now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:34PM
Yes, we know, there's a picture of it on a website. It's quite famous. You have nice fingers, btw, but should get that prostrate checked. Oops, sorry, most of the internet seems to have done that for you.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:47PM
The story is almost certainly fiction. Stories of "gerbilling" were circulated a lot during the 80s when gays were out, but society was still very homophobic.
According to Snopes, there are no documented cases in the medical journals.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday August 09 2020, @08:59PM
>In retrospect...
literally
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:59PM (1 child)
Any relation to Lemmiwinks?
https://wiki.southpark.cc.com/wiki/Lemmiwinks [cc.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @12:03AM
I came here to say the same thing, and I would upvote you if I could. :)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:04PM (1 child)
One of the grandsons is a dinosaur expert. He assures us that there is a velociraptor infestation in our woods. So - if one of us gets swallowed by a dinosaur, will this same trick work?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:43PM
Only if you dive directly down the velociraptor's throat without being chewed, and can manage to hold your breath long enough to navigate the length of their guts to an exit. Considering the frequency of actual velociraptor attacks these days, I think that's a sufficient velociraptor encounter survival plan to ensure that you will die of something else first.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @10:02PM
[. ] Would eat again.