the.com/amphibian
the original two-lifestyle creature, breathing both worlds and refusing to commit to either.
means A cold-blooded vertebrate—frog, toad, newt, or salamander—that typically begins life in water as a gilled larva and later breathes air on land.
from From Greek 'amphibios,' literally 'living a double life,' stitched together from 'amphi-' ('both,' 'on both sides') and 'bios' ('life'). It traveled through Latin into scientific English, and originally got slapped on all sorts of double-world creatures before zoology narrowed it down to the frogs and salamanders we mean today. The 'amphi-' prefix is the same one lurking in 'amphitheater'—a place with seats on both sides.
- skin breathing
- many absorb oxygen straight through wet skin
- frozen frogs
- wood frogs freeze solid, then thaw alive
- ancient lineage
- older than dinosaurs by 100 million years
- toxic defense
- poison frog skin can stop a heart
- regrowth
- salamanders regrow limbs, organs, even spinal cords
axolotl — mexican salamander that retains larval features throughout life, found in lake xochimilco
poison dart frog — bright colored frog from central and south america, some species lethal enough to kill 10 humans
cane toad — invasive species introduced to australia in 1935, now numbering over 200 million