A bizarre discovery shows some frogs and toads can grow their bladders around objects lodged deep within their bodies, ultimately peeing them out.Zoologists discovered the oddity after implanting frogs with tiny radio transmitters, which inexplicably migrated to the bladder. The team came across the amphibian ability while studying heat regulation in Australian green tree frogs. The team implanted tiny radio transmitters deep in the amphibians’ peritoneal cavity, which lies just outside the peritoneum — a membrane containing the major organs of most animals.
After a few weeks of living in the wild, however, about 75 percent of the frogs’ transmitters were found in their bladders. The scientists also found some on the ground without any signs of frog death, including being eaten by a predator, disease or other explanations.
Back in the lab, the team put their hypothesis to the test. They enlisted five green tree frogs and five cane toads, implanting small inert beads in each the same way they implanted the radio transmitters. Each tree frog expelled its bead within 23 days. One cane toad also gave its bead the boot, and the beads in the other four toads had migrated to their bladders.
Read more in the original article here.
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