# exploding frogs. reason? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950 "2005-05-22T13:59:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950/1 "2005-05-22T13:59:04Z")
[This link](http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/webhost.asp?wci=default&wcp=EntertainmentStoryPage&ItemID=8355570&ServiceID=8&filterid=345221&searchid=234672&category=1) has a story about some mysteriously exploding frogs. Anyone read about what happened? Has there been any explanation given? Or was it some sort of hoax? ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950/2 "2005-05-22T14:39:00Z")
[Crows](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/germanytoadsoffbeat) ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950/3 "2005-05-22T16:46:13Z")
> [@adirondack\_mike](#): > > [Crows](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/germanytoadsoffbeat) I dare hope you don’t believe that bull ? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950/4 "2005-05-22T17:05:43Z")
I still don’t get it. Were the toads exploding right in front of people’s eyes, and if so, why didn’t they see the crow? If they just found the remains, how did they figure they “exploded” rather than picked apart by a predator? And why wouldn’t the crows eat the rest of the toad? ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950/5 "2005-05-22T17:32:17Z")
Hey I was just telling you what was all over the wire service reports - but I looked into it a bit further. Googled Frank Mutschmann - the one who claimed that crows were responsible - and here is one translated page on his evidence - [Not the best translation -](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/21/0,1872,2294037,00.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfrank%2Bmutschmann%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN). There are others. The exploding toad thing is about two-thirds of the way down. From what I can gather from this and other pages (translated by google since my German -esp amphibian german is nil) - there is a hole in the toad’s back and the liver and part of the intestines are missing. ---
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950/6 "2005-05-22T17:54:00Z")
well couldn’t make much of that translation, but the article clearly stated that “you see the toads crawling… swelling and exploding” so, don’t think its a bird snacking on em. Not sure why a toad would explode if frightened though (which is one explanation given in the article). Curious. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-frogs-reason/304950/7 "2005-05-22T18:42:40Z")
> [@rabbit](#): > > Not sure why a toad would explode if frightened though (which is one explanation given in the article). > Curious. The sequence would be: - crow catches toad, eats liver (being picky, eschews rest of toad). Leaves. - toad stressed (understandably so), initiates normal reaction when threatened: pumping itself up, to look larger. - but as toad already punctured: boom.