# Meanwhile, back in Denmark, thousands of frogs are exploding mysteriously... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 29, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696 "2005-04-29T11:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/1 "2005-04-29T11:22:22Z")
[Link to story.](http://www.denmark.dk/portal/page?_pageid=374,610590&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL) I read in my newspaper today that somewhere in Denmark, there’s a lake where every day, at the same time, some frogs are litterally exploding. Here’s [another link](http://www.pandasthumb.org/pt-archives/000983.html). > [@](#): > > News of unexplained deaths of thousands of toads in Denmark and Germany are not isolated cases, as other biologists both in those countries as well as in England and South America report similar instances Weird, no? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/2 "2005-04-29T13:50:34Z")
Thankfully, at least according to your first link, they don’t seem to be exploding: > [@](#): > > The Århus toads, however, had met their end not by exploding, as was the case in yesterday’s reports, but by shrivelling. I’m always interested in frog stories because I remember reading, years ago, about forgs in Minnesota that were malformed. They had an extra leg or two, a missing leg, a partially-formed leg and other deformities. No one seemed to know what was causing it, at least they didn’t when I was reading about it at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/3 "2005-04-29T14:03:34Z")
Apparently, the answer is fairly disgusting. The current theory is that crows are attacking the toads. When the animals puff up as a defense mechanism, the crows peck out their livers and eat them. Apparently, this causes the blood vessels and lungs to swell up and burst. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/4 "2005-04-29T14:06:05Z")
Malformed frogs are pretty common these days, IIRC. I believe the accepted explanation isrising levels of toxicity in the environment from pollution. Anyways, I read in the paper this morning (no link) that some scientists examining the “exploding” frogs problem think it’s a result of the frogs being attacked by birds who eat the frogs’ livers. The birds peck a hole in the frog to get at the liver. The frogs’ natural defense mechanism in this situation is to puff up, but because there’s now a hole in their bodies, all their guts squish out of it. Ick. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/5 "2005-04-29T14:13:10Z")
_Frog gras_? [sub]sorry[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/6 "2005-04-29T14:43:09Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Malformed frogs are pretty common these days, IIRC. I believe the accepted explanation isrising levels of toxicity in the environment from pollution. I recalling reading at some point that it wasn’t the pollution, per se, that caused the malformation; rather, the pollution gave rise to a type of parasite that screwed with tadpoles’ stem cells, as it were, so that normal growth was altered. Can’t cite, so I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/7 "2005-04-29T15:26:03Z")
[Germany last week](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=313640), now Denmark. If the phenomenon keeps moving northward, we should see exploding polar bears in the arctic circle by June ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/8 "2005-04-29T15:50:50Z")
Why are the crows eating just the livers? That’s the part that I didn’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/9 "2005-04-29T18:55:04Z")
To find your kiloton, you’ve got to kiss a lot of toads. C’mon folks. This is Denmark. The frogs are clearly hopped up on something. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/10 "2005-04-29T20:10:53Z")
Sorry, folks, it’s my fault. I thought it would be funny to carbonate Denmark’s entire supply of drinking water with Alka-Seltzer. Apparently, the fucking toads got to it first. I’d advise the Danes to avoid those crows, too. ---
**Author:** ![quietman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/958977/32.png) [@quietman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quietman)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/11 "2005-04-29T20:17:44Z")
Thread title had me thinking that French Tourists had been attacked. Then again, what would make a Frenchman explode? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/12 "2005-04-29T20:36:42Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Apparently, the answer is fairly disgusting. > > The current theory is that crows are attacking the toads. When the animals puff up as a defense mechanism, the crows peck out their livers and eat them. Apparently, this causes the blood vessels and lungs to swell up and burst. [Here is a story](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=712103&page=1) which details this theory. As the last paragraph states, the Hamburg lake in which over 1000 toads have died during this epidemic has literally been responsible for redefining the phrase “death pool”. ---
**Author:** ![DirkGntly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/13 "2005-04-29T20:47:55Z")
> [@quietman](#): > > Thread title had me thinking that French Tourists had been attacked. Then again, what would make a Frenchman explode? Hmm…let me guess…maybe having to accept an American (or even another European) as an equal? ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/14 "2005-04-30T14:56:39Z")
[Perhaps this is related…](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050429/od_nm/odd_peru_frogs_dc;_ylt=Aq49c234YVK2YYGPQovB4qAuQE4F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5Mm0ycTEwBHNlYwNsbjc1Nw--) ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-back-in-denmark-thousands-of-frogs-are-exploding-mysteriously/301696/15 "2005-05-04T12:16:51Z")
Frog have incredibly sensitive skins. I noticed this in practice, my cats catch one or two every once in a while and two of them were left in my garden. At an amazing speed their skin dissolves and they turn into white skeletons. Reading this article, I reckon that the saliva from the cats’ mouth is probably enough to destabilise the skin, just as the mucus did in the article.