I found this bullfrog in a pit next to my RAS system at first I thought he had been eating my am 600. Then I noticed that he only had three legs. But the weirdness continued when I turned him over and found two more legs and saw another one moveing under his skin. So six legs, sacklike skin filled with fluid and misshapen head. What would cause this to happen???
Folks love to point straight to pesticides (which can be harmful if misused), but natural mutation or disease are by far the most likely causes. There are some nasty diseases decimating frog populations around the world.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
Shame all those legs aren't normal back legs. You could try breeding it and you may corner the frog leg market. That is if you could catch the dang things.
"""Overall, habitat loss is overwhelmingly to blame for frogs' disappearance globally, Muths said, although the issue is a harder one to bring to the public eye.
Disease is "the sexy one that gets all the coverage—habitat loss is not in vogue," she said.
"But if you look at all the things that are piling up on amphibians, if you don't have a house to live in, it doesn't matter if you're going to die tomorrow because of a disease."""
The above is a quote from RAH's link.
When the world changes around us as in Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" or climate change seems to be making the weather more extreme it's worrisome to me for the future of our grand kids and their grand kids.
Habitat loss is a big one, but diseases get moved around more than they used to (globally). Those with the black plague did not die from habitat loss, and they probably did not think it was "sexy". The effects of climate change are real, but we have less knowledge of how our global ecosystem will adapt. As with most change, there will be losers and winners, like when we make a change in a pond, just a lot more complex.
I have done some looking and it seems that this is caused by a parasite. It causes the frog to form these abnormal growths so that it is slower and easier for a bird to catch, that way it can carry on it's life cycle.
