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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Animalia Stupendium. My name is Argomandanes, wizard to

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Speaker 2: the Queen of the Four crowns, Long may she reign,

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Speaker 2: inventor of the reversible wan sleeve and tireless creature chronicler. However,

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Speaker 2: mere monsters hold no mystery for me these days. Indus

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Speaker 2: worms are inconsistent, fire drakes are well. Frankly, I've just

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Speaker 2: had enough of them, so instead I turn my attention

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Speaker 2: once more to the strange fauna of a land called Earth.

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Speaker 2: Travel with me, gentle reader, as we consider the glorious

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Speaker 2: glass frog come name glass frog.

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Speaker 3: Scientific classification some one hundred and forty seven species of

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Speaker 3: the family central Linidae, frequency and range Central and South America.

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Speaker 3: Size small, generally two inches or five centimeters in length,

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Speaker 3: diet various small arthropods and smaller frogs. Treasure hoard, egg

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Speaker 3: clutches laid on leaves or branches overhanging small bodies of water.

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Speaker 3: Challenge rating three.

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Speaker 2: Through my travels in magical realms, I even countered no

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Speaker 2: shortage of invisible creatures. Various spirits, demons, and fay that

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Speaker 2: lurk in the shadows become the shadows and creep upon

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Speaker 2: unsuspecting adventures. So too, I have met many a rogue

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Speaker 2: who survived encounters due to their ability to blend into

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Speaker 2: their environment and remain unseen. And yet never have I

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Speaker 2: seen a wondrous treasure, not even in a dragon's splendid horde,

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Speaker 2: as precious as the glass frog. Most of these are

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Speaker 2: arboreal denizens of the cloud forests, boast a semi translucent skin,

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Speaker 2: thus their name, and through their glass like skin one

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Speaker 2: may glimpse their very organs and the coursing of red

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Speaker 2: blood through their veins. Indeed, did I not know better,

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Speaker 2: I might assume that some careless apprentice had dripped the

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Speaker 2: very ink of animation upon the pages of an anatomy textbook.

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Speaker 2: But I assure you these frogs are quite real. And

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Speaker 2: since glass frogs are products of evolution and not accidental wizardry,

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Speaker 2: you might ponder why they are required translucent skin and

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Speaker 2: visible organs, because surely it is a careless adventure who

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Speaker 2: strolls into an enemy's stronghold with invisible flesh but visible viscera.

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Speaker 2: It might shock and confuse your adversaries in the short term,

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Speaker 2: but they'll certainly know where you are, they'll wise up,

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Speaker 2: and you might not like where they aim their arrows.

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Speaker 2: I am somewhat reminded of the crystal flesh ghuls of

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Speaker 2: Nue in this as well, but that is beside the point. Indeed,

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Speaker 2: scientists long pondered the nature and effectiveness of the glass

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Speaker 2: frog's camouflage. There are two amazing factors we must consider here.

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Speaker 2: First of all, while their central bodies reveal their internal organs,

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Speaker 2: their legs are generally a great deal more translucent, as

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Speaker 2: are the edges of their bodies. Thus, when the fog

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Speaker 2: bunches itself up on a leaf, the edges of its

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Speaker 2: balk blend into its surroundings, be it dark or light.

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Speaker 2: This is called edge diffusion, the softening of line separation

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Speaker 2: between the creature and its background. Think of it as

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Speaker 2: a blurring of the visible boundary between the individual and

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Speaker 2: the surroundings. Stealth check, and there's more. Quite recently, scientists

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Speaker 2: discovered something very exciting about the glass frog's blood. Yes,

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Speaker 2: when the frog is active, the visible veins of coursing

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Speaker 2: red certainly mark the frog for potential sighted predators. But

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Speaker 2: when the frog is asleep, most of its red blood

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Speaker 2: cells pool within the creature's liver, swelling the organ by

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Speaker 2: some forty percent and amassing an estimated eighty nine percent

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Speaker 2: of the creature's red blood cells a virtual liver of holding.

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Speaker 2: As a result, the frog's overall translucency increases by as

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Speaker 2: much as half or even more success It's an extreme adaptation,

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Speaker 2: and scientists ponder how they might learn from it in

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Speaker 2: the treatment and prevention of blood clots. For the frogs

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Speaker 2: carry out this daily feet without suffering clots of their own.

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Speaker 2: Further study may lead to the development of new ante coagulants.

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Speaker 2: Glass frog coloration and translucency varies from species to species,

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Speaker 2: as do some of their other adaptations. At least one

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Speaker 2: species produces bright red tadpoles that bury themselves in mud

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Speaker 2: and leaf litter before completing their metamorphosis. I could go

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Speaker 2: on and on about these delicate creatures, but for now

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Speaker 2: I must retire my wizards quill and allow my familiars

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Speaker 2: some respite. But I shall return with even more wonders

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Speaker 2: of the natural world.

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Speaker 4: Hi, this is Robert Lamb. Thanks once more to the

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Speaker 4: wizard Augomandanese for joining us in this episode, and thanks

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Speaker 4: to my son Sebastian for suggesting the topic of glass frogs,

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Speaker 4: which he read about in the twenty twenty two Kingfisher

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Speaker 4: Animal Encyclopedia, which also served as a source for this episode.

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Speaker 4: Other sources include Imperfect Transparency and Camouflage in glass Frogs

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Speaker 4: by Ryan at All, published in the Journal Biological Sciences

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Speaker 4: twenty twenty and glass Frogs Concealed blood in their liver

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Speaker 4: to maintain Transparency by Taboada at All, published in the

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Speaker 4: Journal Science twenty twenty two. Thanks as always to the

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Speaker 4: excellent JJ Possway for producing this episode, and if you

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Speaker 4: wish to contact Argomandanese with recommendations for future episodes, you

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Speaker 4: can send an email to contact at Stuffdlow your Mind

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Speaker 4: dot com.

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Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.