During winter in Alaska, the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) freezes so that it looks like a frog-shaped piece of ice. While frozen, the frog stops breathing, its heart stops beating, its blood stops flowing, and it cannot move. However, when spring arrives, the frog’s body thaws and the frog returns to normal life.
This is an amazing feat that would certainly be highly unlikely to have developed by chance. To restart the function of the frog’s systems after they have been frozen requires extremely complex genetic programming.
This is an amazing feat that would certainly be highly unlikely to have developed by chance. To restart the function of the frog’s systems after they have been frozen requires extremely complex genetic programming.
The adult wood frog grows to be only about 3 inches long. The frog lives in Canada and also in the United States from Alaska to Alabama. The wood frog is one of only three species of frogs that live north of the Arctic Circle.
Before the severe Alaskan winter arrives, the wood frog stores glucose in its liver. When the frog’s feet begin to freeze, its liver releases lots of glucose into its blood stream.7 Much of this glucose enters the frog’s cells and acts like antifreeze to prevent them from freezing.
During winter, 35–45% of the water in the frog’s body freezes. This makes the frog as stiff as a lump of ice! When the spring thaw arrives, the frog’s frozen body revives. Lawson Schroeder (adapted)
Lawson Schroeder pointed out this amazingly complex system. Complexity doesn't just happen, it comes by design.
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