"Surprisingly, all excreted beetles were alive and active."
August 20, 2020 4:09 AM Subscribe
93% of the Time, This Beetle Survives Being Eaten and Pooped out by a Frog
Kobe University scientists have shown how the aquatic beetle Regimbartia attenuata escapes from a frog after being eaten:
Kobe University scientists have shown how the aquatic beetle Regimbartia attenuata escapes from a frog after being eaten:
This study is the first to report the successful escape of prey insects from the vent of a predator and to suggest that the prey promotes predator excretion to escape from inside the predator's body...
Because the frog's sphincter muscle pressure keeps the vent closed, the tiny beetles are unable to exit through the vent without inducing the frog to open it. Therefore, R. attenuata may stimulate the frog's gut to promote excretion.
With luck, this is a fitting metaphor for 2020.
posted by chavenet at 4:14 AM on August 20, 2020 [26 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 4:14 AM on August 20, 2020 [26 favorites]
Sweetcorn shrugs
posted by pipeski at 5:03 AM on August 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by pipeski at 5:03 AM on August 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
.
(for the 7% that don't make it through alive)
posted by misteraitch at 5:04 AM on August 20, 2020 [9 favorites]
(for the 7% that don't make it through alive)
posted by misteraitch at 5:04 AM on August 20, 2020 [9 favorites]
2. The included video is compelling but sadly silent.
Two things that video makes me wonder about:
1. The frog didn't seem to notice at all when the beetle climbed out. Personally, I'm pretty sure I would notice something as large as my foot climbing and wiggling out, but perhaps frog anatomy is different.
2. How many of the beetles were re-eaten a second time after the frogs noticed them running around again? It feels like this video might have ended just before this happens.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:11 AM on August 20, 2020 [8 favorites]
Two things that video makes me wonder about:
1. The frog didn't seem to notice at all when the beetle climbed out. Personally, I'm pretty sure I would notice something as large as my foot climbing and wiggling out, but perhaps frog anatomy is different.
2. How many of the beetles were re-eaten a second time after the frogs noticed them running around again? It feels like this video might have ended just before this happens.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:11 AM on August 20, 2020 [8 favorites]
2. How many of the beetles were re-eaten a second time after the frogs noticed them running around again? It feels like this video might have ended just before this happens.
And here I thought I never needed a word like Autocoprophagy.
posted by flamewise at 5:38 AM on August 20, 2020
And here I thought I never needed a word like Autocoprophagy.
posted by flamewise at 5:38 AM on August 20, 2020
I recently learned about this via the No Such Thing As a Fish podcast.
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 5:50 AM on August 20, 2020
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 5:50 AM on August 20, 2020
Everybody living in any of the present-day autocoprophagiocracies needs that word.
posted by flabdablet at 5:51 AM on August 20, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 5:51 AM on August 20, 2020 [3 favorites]
Personally, I'm pretty sure I would notice something as large as my foot climbing and wiggling out, but perhaps frog anatomy is different.
Even allowing for those differences, I would have thought that somethlng as large as your foot climbing and wiggling out would give almost any frog cause for at least mild concern.
posted by flabdablet at 5:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
Even allowing for those differences, I would have thought that somethlng as large as your foot climbing and wiggling out would give almost any frog cause for at least mild concern.
posted by flabdablet at 5:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
Maybe they like it
posted by Kabanos at 6:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Kabanos at 6:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [3 favorites]
Soundtrack suggestions for watching a beetle work its way out of the vent of a frog?
http://www.youtubemultiplier.com
posted by flabdablet at 6:57 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
http://www.youtubemultiplier.com
posted by flabdablet at 6:57 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
The text of the FPP seems like the caption in a Far Side cartoon, where a grizzled veteran beetle is explaining to some larvae what to expect out there.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:27 AM on August 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:27 AM on August 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
Pretty sure all those punk-ass teen beetles are getting eaten on purpose.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:36 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:36 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
I've seen a video where a bullfrog swallows a toxic newt. The narrator says something about the strength of the stomach acid versus how quickly the toxin works. Some fraught seconds later, the frog kind of sags in on itself and the newt crawls back out of the frog's mouth.
Beetle says: "Hold my beer..."
posted by coppertop at 8:34 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
Beetle says: "Hold my beer..."
posted by coppertop at 8:34 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
I've seen a video where a bullfrog swallows a toxic newt.
Went and found it because it sounded (and is) awesome.
posted by bfranklin at 8:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
Went and found it because it sounded (and is) awesome.
posted by bfranklin at 8:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
I always thought the Excreted Beetles were Stu, Pete, and Murray the K.
posted by briank at 8:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by briank at 8:54 AM on August 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
Now, for the first time, research has documented the quick, active escape of prey from the body of a predator after being eaten.
Alternative paper title: Aliens: The Ride.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:19 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
Alternative paper title: Aliens: The Ride.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:19 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
I wonder what's inside yer butthole
Maybe it's astronauts
Oh, it's beetles, okay
posted by biogeo at 9:40 AM on August 20, 2020 [7 favorites]
Maybe it's astronauts
Oh, it's beetles, okay
posted by biogeo at 9:40 AM on August 20, 2020 [7 favorites]
Now we need something to eat the frog and poop it out alive...
posted by Cardinal Fang at 10:22 AM on August 20, 2020
posted by Cardinal Fang at 10:22 AM on August 20, 2020
Now we need something to eat the frog and poop it out alive...
Poopducken
posted by Omnomnom at 10:29 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
so... it this a feature, or a bug?
posted by lapolla at 12:08 PM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by lapolla at 12:08 PM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
I’m enjoying this thread way more than I should.
And here I thought I never needed a word like Autocoprophagy.
Years ago while at the zoo with my kids, we saw a monkey poop a nug into its hand, smell it carefully and decide it was good for another go. I assumed it was to wring as much nutrition as possible from a leaf-based diet, but who knows? Animals develop all sorts of stress behaviors in zoos.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:27 PM on August 20, 2020
And here I thought I never needed a word like Autocoprophagy.
Years ago while at the zoo with my kids, we saw a monkey poop a nug into its hand, smell it carefully and decide it was good for another go. I assumed it was to wring as much nutrition as possible from a leaf-based diet, but who knows? Animals develop all sorts of stress behaviors in zoos.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:27 PM on August 20, 2020
Soundtrack suggestions for watching a beetle work its way out of the vent of a frog?
The Doors, “Break on Through”
The Beatles, “Within You, Without You”
The Bee Gees, “Love You Inside Out”
Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”
posted by armeowda at 3:37 PM on August 20, 2020 [6 favorites]
The Doors, “Break on Through”
The Beatles, “Within You, Without You”
The Bee Gees, “Love You Inside Out”
Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”
posted by armeowda at 3:37 PM on August 20, 2020 [6 favorites]
The Beatles, “Within You, Without You”
Well duh.
posted by The otter lady at 6:11 PM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
Well duh.
posted by The otter lady at 6:11 PM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
5-metre-long marine reptile has the body of a 4-metre-long animal in its stomach
Sorry, no video, but dang that must have been something to see.
posted by waving at 12:19 AM on August 21, 2020
Sorry, no video, but dang that must have been something to see.
posted by waving at 12:19 AM on August 21, 2020
Just when my face finally went back to normal after watching those strawberry worms y'all come come at me with this.
posted by like_neon at 2:10 AM on August 21, 2020
posted by like_neon at 2:10 AM on August 21, 2020
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to.
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
Living is easy with eyes closed,
Misunderstanding all your seeds.
It's getting hard to eat sometimes,
But they do wash out;
They just don't matter much to me.
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to.
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
No bugs, I think, are in my feed
I mean they must be, high or low.
That is you can't, you know, stop them
But it's all right.
That is, I think it's not too bad.
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to.
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
Always, no, sometimes think it's clean
But you know I know when it's a dream
I think, oh no, I mean, oh yes
But it's all wrong
That is, I think I disagree.
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to.
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
Strawberry worms forever!
Strawberry worms forever!
posted by flabdablet at 6:47 AM on August 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
Living is easy with eyes closed,
Misunderstanding all your seeds.
It's getting hard to eat sometimes,
But they do wash out;
They just don't matter much to me.
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to.
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
No bugs, I think, are in my feed
I mean they must be, high or low.
That is you can't, you know, stop them
But it's all right.
That is, I think it's not too bad.
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to.
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
Always, no, sometimes think it's clean
But you know I know when it's a dream
I think, oh no, I mean, oh yes
But it's all wrong
That is, I think I disagree.
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to.
Strawberry worms!
Like seeds that squirm,
But nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry worms forever!
Strawberry worms forever!
Strawberry worms forever!
posted by flabdablet at 6:47 AM on August 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
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2. The included video is compelling but sadly silent. Soundtrack suggestions for watching a beetle work its way out of the vent of a frog?
posted by youarenothere at 4:12 AM on August 20, 2020 [3 favorites]