KISS THAT FROG:The frog is an amphibian classified as a member of the Anura family.(meaning “tail-less in Greek) Adult frogs are characterized by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits, protuding eyes and the absence of a tail. The lakes of North Cyprus serve as a home for three different species of frogs. Meets the Frogs of North Cyprus. Frog are portrayed as ugly and useless creatures by some, while others connects them to hedeen talents and many cultures see them as magical creatures. They take part in lots of fairy tales, such as “the story of the frog prince”. The modern- day media and film indutry also use them as characters like Michigan J. Frog, Slippy Toad or Kermit the frog. Michigan J. Frog, featured in a caroon, will only perfom his singing and dancing routine for his owner. When another person looked at him, he would change back into a frog, and begin croaking. Slippy Toad, form the Star Fox series of computer games, is a talented mechanic, but mediocre pilot ,who often ends up needing to be rescued by his team mates . Kermits the forg, on the other hand, is a conscientious and discliplined character of Sesame Street and the Muppet Show; while openly friendly and greatly talented, he is often portrayed as cringing at the fanciful behaviour of more flamboynat characters. Nowadays, in Shrek, which is a very popular series of flims among children; Shrek’s father- in-law ia King who used to be a Frog, amphitibian in the order Anura. Adult frogs are characterised by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits, prtruding eyes and the absence of a tail. Most frogs have a semi-aquatic liftyle, but move easily on land by jumping or climbing. They typically lay their aggs in puddles, ponds or lakes; and their larves, called tadpoles, have gills and develops in water . adult frogs follow a carnivoruos diet, ostly noticeable by their call, which can be widely heard during the night or day, mainly in their mating season. Frogs also have a place in history too. To the Egyptians, the frog was a symbol of life and fertility, since millions of them were born after the annual inundation of the
Nile,which brought fertility to the otherwise barren lands. Consequently, in Egyptian mythology, there began to be a frog- goddess, who represented ferility, named Heget,meaning frog’s head, or more rarely as a frog on the end of a phallus to explicity indicate her association with fertility. Frogs also take part in Greek Mythology: The Frogs who wanted a King is a fable, attributed to Aesop. The frogs prayed to Zeus asking they wanted a fierce and terrible king, not a mere figurhead. So Zeus sent them a Stork to be their king. The new king hunted and devoured his subjects (as many human kings also do). Frogs has served as important model organism throughout the history of science. Eighteenth- century biologist Lugi Galvani discovered the link between electricity and the nervous system through studying frogs. The Africans clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, was first widely used in laboratories in pregnancy assays in the first half of the 20th century. In 1952 Robert Briggs and Thomas J. King cloned a frog by somatic cell nuclear transfer, the same technique that was later used to create Dolly the Sheep. Frogs are eaten, notably in France. One dish is know as cuises de grenouille, frogs’legs, and altought it is not especially common, it is taken as indicative of French cuisine. Thus frogs are sometimes used to represent French people. There three species of frogs in Cyprus. The green toad, Bufo viridis,is the most widespread as it is the hardiest of the three frogs can survive in fairly dry conditions for long periods. The small green tree frog, Hyla savignyi can be found, as is to be expected, in areas with fairly lush vegetation and fairly near water. Marsh areas are its main breeding areas which can often seen on the vegetation on the banks of the steams and other water-courses. The most aquatic of the Cyprus frogs is the marsh frog Rana awayfrom a permanent water body. All frogs together with many other aquatic animals and animals that have an aquatic stage in their life were pratically exterminated from the island by the use of DDT in the antimalaria campaign. Now less harmful chemicals are used. However, populations of frog species of Vyprus are significant declining because of habitat loss due to encontrolles urbanization.
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on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 10:01 am and is filed under News From Northern Cyprus.
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