While we were poking about yesterday I came across two separate piles of remains in the leaf litter. Both were adjacent to the water's edge and both appeared to be from the same type of animal. Both were also relatively fresh. Hmm...our guess is frog eggs. The parts looked right and smelled right (yes, we smelled 'em -- it's what we do)and were in likely areas. No wonder the frogs were so hard to sneak up on - they were wary of becoming dinner.
Our only question was why weren't the eggs eaten? There was no evidence of any other organs or body parts, just the ovaries and ducts. Best guess is the eggs are from southern leopard frogs and to our knowledge they are not poisonous - they certainly get eaten after being laid. So why were these left behind? Anybody know?
3 comments:
Frog eggs already? What joy! Hope you solve your mystery! You'll have to go check them again today, perhaps. ~karen
Weird. I am no help on this one.
KaHolly,
They sure look like frog eggs - leopard frogs get an early start around here and could be laying eggs by the end of next month.
FC,
Sometimes we find ourselves confounded.
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