Oh my god! How come this frog has mushrooms growing on its body! | Nature Trumpet

Welcome to the 53rd issue of Nature Trumpet . In the past half month, we have collected the following natural news and research worth reading:

1) Mushrooms grow on frogs. What’s going on?

2) The red cross on the jellyfish is actually a stomach

3) The killer whale was trapped in the ice floe, but luckily escaped safely

4) The naughty children of apes also love to play pranks

5) An elephant seal bravely rescues a drowning pup

6) African penguin baby boom, little penguins still have to go to school

Mushrooms growing on frogs

Mushrooms can actually grow on frogs!

Frog Ben Frog | Lohit YT

Recently, scientists discovered a Hylarana intermedia frog in India. The frog had mushrooms growing on its side, but the frog itself was still alive and well . From the photos, mycologists speculated that the mushrooms belonged to the genus Mycena.

The mushroom genus generally grows on decaying organic matter , most often on dead wood, though only one study has found them growing on living tree roots. Strangely, this time they were found growing on living frogs, which is the first time they have ever been found.

Mushroom: You never thought of that! I can grow anywhere | Lohit YT

Unfortunately, scientists only have photos of the frog, and they have no way of knowing whether the mushrooms grew from the frog's body or from its skin. They speculate that the frog may have been injured, and the wound happened to be infected by fungi . In addition, the frog's skin is moist, which is the perfect environment for mushroom growth.

In fact, there are many examples of amphibians being infected by fungi, which can even develop into fatal diseases. But when scientists discovered this frog with mushrooms, it was staying among a group of companions and seemed to be in good condition . Apart from a small mushroom growing on its body, there were no signs of physical discomfort.

Frogs that died from Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infection | Emanuele Biggi

Red Cross Jellyfish

A strange new species of jellyfish has been described that has a bright red cross printed on its body.

New species of jellyfish with a red cross on its body | JAMSTEC

It is named the St. George's Cross jellyfish, scientifically known as Santjordia Pagei, and lives near the crater of an active volcano in Japan. The red cross on its body is not a useless decoration, but a vital organ - the stomach .

Why does a translucent body have to have a red stomach? This has to do with their eating habits. They usually eat bioluminescent organisms in the deep sea. Imagine that after a jellyfish has eaten its fill, its transparent body is full of bioluminescent food . To predators, this is simply a prey with its own location. The red stomach can hide the bioluminescent organisms inside, so that the jellyfish will not be discovered by predators.

Side view of the St. George's Cross jellyfish | JAMSTEC

In fact, as early as 2002, researchers discovered a St. George's Cross jellyfish, but at that time there was only one sample. Although it looked strange, it could not rule out the possibility that a known species had a genetic mutation. It was not until 2020 that the expedition team discovered another of the same jellyfish, and everyone finally determined that this was a new species .

After genetic analysis, scientists have not been able to identify any close relatives of these jellyfish. Where they fit on the evolutionary tree remains a question that needs to be studied.

Killer whale escapes safely

Near Hokkaido, Japan, a group of killer whales were trapped in floating ice, but fortunately they finally escaped safely.

Early that morning, a fisherman found a killer whale trapped in an ice floe not far from the coast. When the animal protection organization arrived, they filmed the scene with a drone and found that there were actually 13 killer whales trapped inside, four of which were young whales .

Killer whales trapped in ice floes | Inside Edition / YouTube

The killer whales huddled together, taking turns surfacing from the cracks in the sea ice to breathe, showing obvious signs of difficulty breathing . Even more worrying was that some killer whales had bleeding jaws, most likely from struggling in the ice floes.

However, because the sea ice was too thick, the personnel on site were unable to rescue them and could only closely observe the situation. By night, the group of killer whales had moved a little north, but still failed to escape. After the video of the killer whales trapped in the sea ice was posted online, many people in Japan and the world were very worried. One group even requested the Japanese Ministry of Defense to mobilize an icebreaker to rescue the killer whales.

Killer whales still struggling | BBC news

The next morning, the animal protection organization returned to the place where the killer whales were trapped and was surprised to find that they had disappeared without a trace. After searching for 90 minutes, they still couldn't find any trace of them! However, the ice floes had dispersed a little compared to the previous night, and the killer whales may have taken the opportunity to escape .

Hokkaido has the lowest sea ice in the world. In 2005, nine killer whales were also trapped nearby. Unfortunately, they were not so lucky and died in the ice floes after failing to escape.

The sea where killer whales are trapped | BBC news

Ape Prank

Like human children, ape children also like to play pranks.

In a new study, researchers analyzed 75 hours of video footage of apes playing in a zoo and found that young apes love to play all kinds of pranks , with as many as 18 kinds of tricks, comparable to human children. For example, when adult chimpanzees doze off, young chimpanzees like to suddenly slap them in the face; when handing something to others, they will take it back at the last second before the other party gets it, leaving the other party empty-handed.

The child is thinking bad things! | References [4]

Most of the mischief was initiated by the children (or should I say ape children?), and the adults reacted calmly and helplessly, much like human parents. However, patience has its limits . In a quarter of the cases, if the children were particularly naughty and kept up the mischief, such as pulling the hair of the adults, it might eventually turn into chasing, wrestling and tickling, just like human parents who have had enough and started to discipline their children.

Even if apes don’t have to work, it’s still hard to take care of children! | Reference [4]

These pranks are also very common in human children, and even 8-month-old human babies can play pranks. Researchers believe that at least 13 million years ago, the common ancestor of all primates, including humans, was already playing pranks .

What is the purpose of pranks? Researchers believe that, at least for human children, pranks allow them to test social boundaries between being accepted and being hit, and harmless pranks can also deepen relationships.

Elephant seal acts bravely

Now, let's give an elephant seal an award for bravery!

The microphone is passed to the winner. Please give your acceptance speech. References [5]

Once, the tide swept the baby elephant seal into the water. It shouted for help, but the mother elephant seal did not go into the water at the beach. She could only helplessly and anxiously shout to her child. At this time, our winner, an especially enthusiastic male elephant seal, rushed into the sea and gently pushed the drowning baby to the shore where its mother was waiting .

A male elephant seal rushing into the sea to rescue his pup | Reference [5]

The researchers who witnessed this were shocked and quickly took out their cameras to take a video. You know, male elephant seals are not good people - they are huge in size, but they fast during the mating season and use all their energy on mating. When they rush towards females, they will not hesitate to crush cubs and any other animals that get in their way . During this period, let alone cubs, they will not pay any attention to anything that is not a mating partner.

The male seal carefully pushes his pup back to shore | Reference [5]

The male elephant seal suddenly rushed into the water to save the cub, which was a huge energy expenditure for him. He was also fasting, which could have put a great burden on his body, so it can be seen as an altruistic behavior .

After being rescued, the cub successfully returned to its mother | References [5]

But why did this bull elephant seal suddenly show kindness? Confused researchers searched the literature and found no evidence that bull elephant seals often engage in altruistic behavior . For the time being, we can only regard this as an isolated incident. Maybe the bull elephant seal suddenly decided to do a good deed!

African Penguin Baby Boom

In an effort to save endangered African penguins, the San Francisco Museum of Science has welcomed a wave of African penguin babies.

The smallest penguin was born just last month | Jeff Chiu / AP

From November 2022 to recently, in just over a year, 10 African penguin chicks have been hatched here , and the youngest is now just over a month old. In the four years before that, no chicks were born here.

They are two little penguins born in November 2023, Nelson on the left and Alice on the right | Jeff Chiu / AP

Each penguin parent has a dedicated nesting box, in which they will lay out nesting materials and decorate their own home. The little penguins will stay with their parents for the first three weeks after they are born, spending their childhood. Then they will attend the "fishing school" , where they will learn necessary survival skills such as swimming and catching fish, as well as a variety of extracurricular activities, such as painting.

Little penguin goes to school | Jeff Chiu / AP

When the little penguins finish their studies, they can join the penguin group. There are now 21 penguins here, each with a unique armband that makes them easy to identify. When they meet the humans who have always taken care of them, they will shake their heads and say hello. The oldest penguin is 36 years old, and over the years it has accumulated enough experience that even catching fish in the air is a piece of cake for it.

The penguin colony now has 21 members | Jeff Chiu / AP

There are only 9,000 breeding pairs of African penguins left in the wild, down from 10 million a century ago, and the museum hopes penguins bred and raised by humans can help save the species.

Author: Cat Tun

Editor: Mai Mai

Title image source: Lohit YT