# Boiling frogs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2001, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053 "2001-08-13T16:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/1 "2001-08-13T16:30:15Z")
There’s a little parable going around about frogs. If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, he’ll jump out. If you put him in a pot of cold water, and then gradually turn up the heat, he’ll stay in it until he cooks. This is supposed to illustrate how people can allow themselves to get into a bad situation a little at a time. Is this total fiction, or is there a basis in truth? ---
**Author:** ![willrolt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a88e57/32.png) [@willrolt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willrolt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/2 "2001-08-13T17:22:30Z")
I don’t know if this is true - a teacher once told us this story too. I believe it has something to do with frogs being cold - blooded - If you warm them up slowly, their body temperature increases steadily, so the difference between this and the hot water is always relatively low. They therefore don’t percieve the water as hot. Maybe someone who has tried it!!! could verify… ---
**Author:** ![Briminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@Briminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briminator)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/3 "2001-08-13T18:32:16Z")
One of my teachers at college told me the best way to cook a lobster was to put it in cold water and slowly turn up the heat. This grossed out most of the class, his reply was that the meat came out better and the lobster didn’t have a clue of what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/4 "2001-08-13T18:52:49Z")
That’d be a great way to make a tough lobster, and they oughtta be split and broiled anyway. Hmmm. We have frogs in my pond. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/5 "2001-08-13T18:57:26Z")
Man oh man, it better be true. I used that anecdote in my book. My mom told me that when I was about sixteen and getting mixed up in the ‘skater crowd’. Personally, as a gal who’s caught a lot of frogs and played wit’em, I’d say a frog will jump out of anywhere, because they like to keep it moving. jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/6 "2001-08-13T19:45:44Z")
Site on [frog boiling](http://www.fastcompany.com/online/01/frog.html). > [@](#): > > Professor Doug Melton, Harvard University Biology Department, says, “If you put a frog in boiling water, it won’t jump out. It will die. If you put it in cold water, it will jump before it gets hot – they don’t sit still for you.” Of course I have no idea if the above is real but there _is_ a [Doug Melton](http://www.mcb.harvard.edu/melton/Members/MeltonCV.html) in existence at Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/7 "2001-08-13T21:00:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > **Man oh man, it better be true. I used that anecdote in my book.** Don’t think you’re original if you did. Hector MacDonald opened his novel, _The Mind Game_ (2001) with the same device. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frogs/76053/8 "2001-08-14T03:52:01Z")
If you can make the frog comfortable enough in a pot of water that it won’t jump out in the first place which would be the biggest challenge (give it a rock or some moss to hide around), then there is some basis for the line, if you raise the heat slow enough. They’re not that bright… but overheating isn’t really a failing in intellengence. The frog will get a little uncomfortable, but… it’s not that bad. Repeat this scenario several times over, and soon the frog will come to a point where even though it realizes it better get out, it’s too late. It’s a matter of waiting a little too long and crossing the line of no return as opposed to blind ignorance. Humans do the exact same thing all the time - ever heard of heat stroke? “Gee it’s hot out, but it’s so nice and sunny today… I’m starting to sweat, but I gotta work on my tan for a couple hours more… I don’t have any water to drink but the wind cools me down a bit… I’m use to the heat now, let’s play frisby… Hello, 911?”