# frozen lizard



## SlaytanicArachnid (Mar 8, 2009)

Hello, this sounds completeley far fetched but i believe it cause frogs can do this. My friends mom and her boyfriend went to Jamaica recently. Ive heard fomr lots of people who go south that lizards are always in their room. anyways when they got pack there was a lizard frozen solid in their bags. i guess it made itself comfortable then froze on the flight back. its tail was curved so they hung it by its tail above the fire place and out of some freak of nature it thawed out fell on the stove, jumped off and is alive and well. It is being kept in a 10 gallon tank. sounds completely screwed up, ive seen the lizard and am going to go back for pictures. believe it or not.

Lucais


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## Shrike (Mar 8, 2009)

Not all frogs can do this.  Rana sylvatica is the only species that I'm aware of that displays this ability.  Wood frogs have special proteins in their blood that causes the blood to freeze first.  This draws most of the moisture out of the frogs cells.  At the same time, the frogs' liver starts making large amounts of glucose, which packs into the frogs' cells and acts as antifreeze.  These mechanisms prevent ice from forming inside the frogs' cells.  Very cool.  

That being said, I find it highly unlikely that a lizard from Jamaica would have this same ability.  Wood frogs live in a habitat where this ability is advantageous.  We can easily see why the evolved to have this ability.  The places where they live can get quite cold!  Lizards in Jamaica would not have selected for this ability.  Why would they need it?


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## codykrr (Mar 9, 2009)

well heres something too...when i wasyounger me my mom ad my sister had to move from North carolina back to missour.....well we didnt have room in the ryder(u haul) for the animals...so we put a heat pack into mymoms car(towed behind the u haul..and put our green iguana inside....well needless to say it wasso cold up in the mountains that he died anyway...so when we got to a motel..my mom and i ran some warm water over the iguana and sure enough he sprang back to life!....and he was completely dead....stiff and frozen....we just called it a mirical but needless to say my scorps and bird wasnt so lucky....all died as well....


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 10, 2009)

this is incredible!  what kind of lizard?  an anole?


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 10, 2009)

mking said:


> Not all frogs can do this.  Rana sylvatica is the only species that I'm aware of that displays this ability.  Wood frogs have special proteins in their blood that causes the blood to freeze first.  This draws most of the moisture out of the frogs cells.  At the same time, the frogs' liver starts making large amounts of glucose, which packs into the frogs' cells and acts as antifreeze.  These mechanisms prevent ice from forming inside the frogs' cells.  Very cool.
> 
> That being said, I find it highly unlikely that a lizard from Jamaica would have this same ability.  Wood frogs live in a habitat where this ability is advantageous.  We can easily see why the evolved to have this ability.  The places where they live can get quite cold!  Lizards in Jamaica would not have selected for this ability.  Why would they need it?


well if the world turns out like that movie "The Day After Tomorrow" and they somehow survive to breed in the aftermath i think would be pretty advantageous


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## davidbarber1 (Mar 10, 2009)

There are some species of skink in Australia that freeze and revive. I'm at work so I don't have the names. They are in a book at home. But yes, it does occur.

David


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## SlaytanicArachnid (Mar 10, 2009)

ScottySalticid said:


> this is incredible!  what kind of lizard?  an anole?


no i was told it was bigger, like a small iguana.its brown.


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## Gold Skulltula (Mar 10, 2009)

LoL, this reminds me of an incident with mice.. 

I order frozen rodents online for my snakes.  At the time of the incidence I also had a small breeding colony.  My roommates were curious about the frozen mice, watching me as I thawed them out.  One of them asked if the mouse would come back alive if I unfroze it.  I told him no, but I couldn't help showing him a pink taken from its mothers nest 20 minutes later, saying 'look Greg, it's a miracle.."


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## Vidaro (Mar 10, 2009)

Tman420 said:


> no i was told it was bigger, like a small iguana.its brown.


erm... in your first post u said uv seen it...


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## halfwaynowhere (Mar 10, 2009)

I think the numbers in his username say it all


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## Shrike (Mar 10, 2009)

I definitely think that this is an interesting phenomenon.  As far as I know, the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, is the only species of _frog_ that exhibits this ability.  This ability has been the subject of a great deal of peer reviewed research and is well documented.  It may well be that there is some species of lizard out there that can also survive freezing.  I'm not aware of any...I briefly searched for any records of an Australian skink but didn't have much luck.

I'm confident that any species, whether frog or lizard, that evolved to have such abilities did so because of selective pressures.  I don't think a lizard from Jamaica (or a green iguana for that matter) would have taken this evolutionary path.  Just my opinion.


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## codykrr (Mar 10, 2009)

halfwaynowhere said:


> I think the numbers in his username say it all


haha....i laughed at that one.....and btw awsome avatar!.....


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## SlaytanicArachnid (Mar 10, 2009)

halfwaynowhere said:


> I think the numbers in his username say it all


what are you implying?


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## davidbarber1 (Mar 10, 2009)

Hey all, I got home and looked it up in "Australian Reptiles And Frogs" by Raymond T. Hoser (pg. 97). The skink I was talking about in my earlier post is the Southern Water Skink (Eulamprus tympanum). "Two species are recognised here. One species, found in the northern tablelands and the southern highlands of New South Wales, is called the Warm Temperate Form. The other species , from most of Victoria and far southeastern South Australia, is called Cold Temperate Form." And now to the nitty gritty. "Several specimens, including one gravid of the Worm Temperate Form, were accidently frozen solid by a colleague of mine. These were thawed out and survived, no worse off for the ordeal." If the Warm Temp Form can survive, why should the Cold Temp Form not be able to???? Interesting thought.

David


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