Water beetles that survive being swallowed by frogs | Hacker News Reader

Water beetles that survive being swallowed by frogs

scientificamerican.com

87 pointszenit-mf-122 comments

"In most of the experiments, the beetles reappeared within six hours, slipping out of a frog's anus, or vent. Though muscles typically hold the vent tightly shut, those muscles loosen up when the frog poops; the beetles could be stimulating the frogs' defecation reflex in order to temporarily open this unusual emergency exit, according to the new study."

Possibly a first evolutionary step to becoming an internal parasite.

Also, a way for the intestinal flora of frogs to be spread to other frogs.

Which may be fairly unique in itself?

That could have all kinds of other weird and wonderful follow on effects for the frog population.

> Also, a way for the intestinal flora of frogs to be spread to other frogs.

> Which may be fairly unique in itself?

Considering the number of diseases that are spread, human to human, by oral consumption of feces - probably not.

There are mammals like rabbits that eat their own feces to get a second pass at digestion. Evolution has created an unbelievable amount of diversity in the natural world - it's a mistake to judge it by our own immune systems.

GP may have been objecting to the uniqueness of the trait, not its existence.

Nah, I'd just not been able to think off hand of an example of intestinal flora being shared (potentially widely) among members of a species.

The rabbits example is a good one to illustrate it already does happen. :)

Again, it is already known to be very common in humans.

You seem to be saying oral consumption of other people's faeces is common in humans. What's the evidence for this?

Personally, I'm aware of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_feces#Fecal_transplants, but that's all.

It is the only reproductive strategy of several major diseases, most notably cholera. So yes, obviously it is common. You know how cholera is notorious for spreading through communities very quickly? Guess how that happens.

Intentional consumption of other people's feces is rare, but that's not relevant to anything. If you eat something, it doesn't matter at all whether you wanted to eat it.

Interesting, thanks. :)

Also possibly an evolutionary step for frogs to not pray on this particular beatle.

Let the game commence.

That would make an interesting update to Beatrix Potter's Jeremy Fisher story :-).

Heh Heh Heh.

Common movie trope: The Protagonist, swallowed whole, heroically cuts their way out of the monsters' gullet.

Reality: The Protagonist, swallowed whole, holds their breath and tickles the monsters sphincter from the inside...

Doesn't have the same ring to it. ;)

> dank and airless internal tunnel

It can't be "dank" if it's entirely liquid filled, come on.

>It can't be "dank" if it's entirely liquid filled, come on.

'disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold.'

I imagine I'd describe visiting a predators GI tract as 'disagreeably damp', among other things.

An aside : I agree that I haven't heard it used in the context of submerging, but the definition seems to allot for it?

I wouldn't expect a "dank basement" to require SCUBA gear. I agree with GP that this word use struck me as odd and distracting. Not sure what I expected to read about a beetle navigating an intestinal tract, but still.

But probably not very cold, or musty for that matter.

And "damp" would only be used ironically to describe an entirely aqueous environment. "Hmm, I don't like the ocean, it's a bit damp."

Slowing metabolism for a few hours is not too big a deal, but the adaptations to survive stomach acids maybe is? Frogs eat all manners of arthropods whole, without macerating, so whatever's down there is pretty aggressive.

Maybe this is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

"I used a video camera to record the behavior" -- and no video in the article?

Found it, on another (insecure) site: http://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/13609620

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