Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Looks Cute, Tastes Awful

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Fire Bellied Toads

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No, I never heard of them either. Was it a joke? The sign sat outside the pet shop in Soulard Farmers Market (est. 1779) on a busy Saturday. So I looked it up. The Web is the repository of all knowledge. (Notice I didn't say wisdom.)

There is actually a small genus, eight species, of fire bellied toads, tiny little critters. When approached by a potential predator, they puff themselves up to display all this yellow-orange-red mottled skin. This is supposedly a signal about how bad they would taste if actually consumed. I'm not sure why you would want one around the house. Maybe some people think it's cute.

5 comments:

  1. de vrai chien de garde, un peu comme les oies en moins agressives. Original, je connaissais pas non plus (j'espere que j'ai bien traduit ;))

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  2. We've each got our heads in the 'toads' for today's post.

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  3. Which one toads? tadpoles? or other?

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