{"id":132932,"date":"2024-12-03T19:14:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T12:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132932"},"modified":"2024-12-03T19:14:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T12:14:46","slug":"meet-the-purple-frog-a-dinosaur-era-living-fossil-that-emerged-over-80-million-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132932","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Purple Frog, A Dinosaur-Era \u201cLiving Fossil\u201d That Emerged Over 80 Million Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"isPasted\">In 2003, scientists described a new family of frogs \u2013 the first time such a discovery had been made among the anurans in around 70 years. Their prize was a weird one, a purple frog described as the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/5446960_New_frog_family_from_India_reveals_an_ancient_biogeographical_link_with_the_Seychelles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coelacanth of frogs<\/a>\u201d. Why? Because it stemmed from an ancient lineage that was wriggling around in the mud when dinosaurs were still alive.<\/p>\n<p>With a bloated body and stubby limbs, tiny eyes, and a protruding snout, the purple frog isn\u2019t winning any beauty contests \u2013 but if you\u2019re a fan of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/what-is-a-living-fossil-first-evidence-of-a-biological-mechanism-reveals-all-73272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">living fossils<\/a>\u201d then this is the amphibian for you. It&#8217;s thought to have emerged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontheedge.org\/stories\/article-species-spotlight-purple-frog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">over 80 million years ago<\/a>, but it wasn&#8217;t until 2003 that it was formally identified in the Western Ghats Mountains. Incredibly, its DNA revealed that its closest relative hailed from the Seychelles, around 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) south of its native India, with the two having split on the family tree sometime between 251 and 65 million years ago, during the Mesozoic era.<\/p>\n<h2>The Purple Frog<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"blockquote--content\">\n<p>How utterly extraordinary it is that an animal can spend so much time underground, and so little is known about it.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Evans<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Around 180 million years ago, the world looked very different. The supercontinent Gondwana was still in one piece \u2013 but over tens of millions of years it broke apart, separating these frog cousins as the power of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/how-do-supercontinents-form-and-break-up-74231\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">plate tectonics<\/a> transformed the Earth into the sprawling puzzle of continents we see today. The Seychelles are to the east of the African continent, while India sits firmly on the continent known as Asia, and it\u2019s in a new series of the same name that the purple frog recently starred.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/m0023h9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Asia<\/em><\/a>, narrated by Sir David Attenborough and created by the BBC, dives into the curious wildlife that\u2019s to be found across Earth\u2019s largest continent, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/fish-that-climb-trees-firefly-squid-and-poisonous-sea-bunnies-welcome-to-asia-76605\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fish that climb trees to firefly squid, and poisonous sea bunnies<\/a>. But us? We really needed to know more about the purple frog, a sentiment that was shared by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/articles\/14P4fFWVCFQrKBpDdBDpHPX\/filming-tangled-worlds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">producer Patrick Evans<\/a> who worked on the <em>Tangled Worlds<\/em> episode.<\/p>\n<p class=\"social-disclaimer-para\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/p0k68313\/player\"><span class=\"fr-mk\" style=\"display: none;\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"fr-mk\" style=\"display: none;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"social-disclaimer-para\"><span class=\"social-disclaimer-icon\">\u24d8\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"social-disclaimer\">IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething struck me in particular about the purple frog,\u201d he told IFLScience, \u201cwhich is just how utterly extraordinary it is that an animal can spend so much time underground, and so little is known about it, and it just looks so bizarre. So different to most other frogs.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Purple Frogs Live It Up Underground<\/h2>\n<p>Part of that bizarre appearance comes down to its history, hailing from a deep branch in the family tree of frogs that stretches back to the Mesozoic era. It was described as a \u201conce in a century find\u201d when the family was officially named <em>Nasikabatrachidae<\/em>, and while a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/new-species-of-frog-found-and-its-unbelievably-weird-looking-43421\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new species was identified in 2017<\/a>, they\u2019ve not been the easiest creatures to study.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"blockquote--content\">\n<p>The frogs have apparently got this technique of passing under low branches to scrape the toads off.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Evans<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Spending all your time up to 8 meters (26 feet) underground will do that, I suppose, and it\u2019s an equally difficult obstacle for anyone trying to film them. Fortunately, they do emerge once a year to breed, but this knowledge didn\u2019t make it any easier for the <em>Asia<\/em> team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was outrageously challenging to [film],\u201d said Evans. \u201cWe work quite closely with an Indian scientist who&#8217;s been following the frogs for quite a long time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edgeofexistence.org\/fellow\/sandeep-das\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr Sandeep Das<\/a>, and he had spent several field seasons staking out the streams where the frogs had emerged or been known to emerge in the past, and eventually he&#8217;d be there on a night when the frogs came out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew quite a lot about these potential spots where they would emerge, and he obviously had quite a lot of background information on timing. So, for example, he would say that if it rained for a certain number of days before the main monsoon would hit, then that would provoke quite a lot of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/observations\/170130322\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">calls<\/a>. And if there was just enough rain, then you might see frogs emerge. We just had spent a lot of time in the field, waiting and hoping that would rain just enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fr-image-container no-background\" data-asset-id=\"80607\" data-reactroot=\"\">\n<div class=\"fr-image\"><picture title=\"\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.iflscience.com\/assets\/articleNo\/77036\/iImg\/80607\/purple-frog-l.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.iflscience.com\/assets\/articleNo\/77036\/iImg\/80607\/purple-frog-l.png\" type=\"image\/png\"><source media=\"(min-width: 568px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.iflscience.com\/assets\/articleNo\/77036\/iImg\/80607\/purple-frog-m.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source media=\"(min-width: 568px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.iflscience.com\/assets\/articleNo\/77036\/iImg\/80607\/purple-frog-m.png\" type=\"image\/png\"><source media=\"(max-width: 567px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.iflscience.com\/assets\/articleNo\/77036\/iImg\/80607\/purple-frog-s.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source media=\"(max-width: 567px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.iflscience.com\/assets\/articleNo\/77036\/iImg\/80607\/purple-frog-s.png\" type=\"image\/png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"inline-image fr-fic fr-dib\" data-asset-id=\"80607\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.iflscience.com\/assets\/articleNo\/77036\/iImg\/80607\/purple frog photo.png\" alt=\"a purple frog on a rock\" title=\"a purple frog on a rock\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"fr-figcaption\">\n<p>Purple frogs only have to emerge once a year to get their business done. Is this what peak performance looks like?<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<h2>Purple Frog Reproduction<\/h2>\n<p>It took the <em>Asia<\/em> team two years to get the timing right, but eventually, they were able to capture the grueling process of purple frog reproduction. Well, grueling for the female, at least. She emerges from the mud with a belly full of eggs, and with a (much smaller) male clasped onto her back like a needy rucksack, she scales upstream to find a safe place to leave her fertilized eggs to develop. However, occasionally she picks up an unwanted tag-along.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"blockquote--content\">\n<p>We have no idea what their lives are like underground.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Evans<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cToads, who are \u2013 how shall we say \u2013 quite \u2018up for it\u2019 as well, they will jump on and try and mate with purple frogs heading off to breed,\u201d said Evans, \u201cbecause they just think \u2018Oh well that\u2019s something I can probably mate with\u2019 [FYI, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/lots-of-frogs-and-toads-mate-with-things-they-shouldnt-from-boots-to-corpses-63692\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">misdirected amplexus<\/a> is famous among these animals]. So, they jump aboard, and the frogs have apparently got this technique of passing under low branches to scrape the toads off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pain in the butt for a female purple frog who already has to do most of the heavy lifting during her brief breeding window, but a remarkable adaptation that shines a little light on the elusive lives of these soil-dwelling animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this frog has got a lot more to offer,\u201d said Evans. \u201cWe have no idea what their lives are like underground, and that&#8217;s something that&#8217;s still out there to be figured out and documented.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How they communicate with each other, how they find each other underground, and how they sense whatever amount of rain it is that <em>they<\/em> think is exactly the right amount and to risk emerging into the darkness. What a mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All episodes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/m0023h9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Asia<\/em><\/a> are available on BBC iPlayer now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/meet-the-purple-frog-a-dinosaur-era-living-fossil-that-emerged-over-80-million-years-ago-77036\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2003, scientists described a new family of frogs \u2013 the first time such a discovery had been made among the anurans in around 70 years. Their prize was a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132932\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}