Frogs, in the narrow sense, refer to only representatives of the family of true frogs (Ranidae).
Frogs are amphibians that inhabit almost all parts of the world. They live everywhere - in reservoirs or swamps, on the ground, even at a depth of several meters in a hard layer of clay, on trees.
Anurans move in a variety of ways. Depending on their habitat, they jump, run, walk, swim, dig holes, climb trees or glide.
Anurans are considered the best jumpers of all vertebrates (in terms of jump length relative to body size). The Australian frog Litoria nasuta can jump more than 50 times its body length (5.5 cm). Acceleration during a jump can reach 20 m/s 2 .
A frog begins its life in water. From the eggs laid in the water, a tadpole develops, similar to a fish fry. A series of transformations of about thirty transitional stages helps the frog adapt to life on land, and the tadpole turns from a “fish” into a land animal.
The tadpole breathed through its gills, while the adult frog breathes through its mouth, lungs, and skin. Such a large set of respiratory organs is characteristic only of amphibians. While the frog is in the water, it breathes through its skin, and when it is on land, it breathes through its mouth and lungs. The circulatory system is also universal. Two parts of the heart work in water, and mixed blood flows through the body. On land, the left atrium comes into operation, and blood that is already purely arterial and saturated with oxygen enters the brain. Thus, with each dive, the frog’s respiratory organs are instantly switched off.
The skin of frogs is bare and covered with mucus, and therefore their activity depends on humidity and air temperature. It goes hunting at dusk, as the coolness increases. In cold and dry weather, frogs huddle in shelters.
Body color is affected not only by temperature, but also by background color, light, and humidity. Frogs perceive changes in these factors directly through their skin.
When wintering time comes, the frog sinks to the bottom of the reservoir.
One of the most original adaptations to living conditions in the border zone between land and water is the frog's hearing aid. It turns out that she perceives sound signals through three channels. In the air, sound waves are captured by the cells of the inner ear, through the eardrum and ear bone. Sounds traveling through the soil are perceived by the bones and muscles of the limbs and are transmitted through the bones of the skull to the inner ear.
Frogs are unpretentious and indiscriminate in their food; they can go hungry for a day or a week. They eat butterflies, bees, wasps and other moving insects. A lake frog eats fish fry.
Once the frog grabs an unsuspecting insect, it must blink: the eyelids push the eyeballs to the top of the mouth and actually help push the food down the throat. By the way, frogs have larger eyes than their stomachs.
Most frogs have teeth on the upper jaw, but these are mainly used to lock prey in the mouth and prevent it from escaping before the eyeballs push it towards the stomach.
The first monument to frogs was built at the University of Paris, at the Sorbonne, in the 19th century (pictured). It was erected (as is believed) at the insistence of the famous French naturalist Claude Bernard. This is how the scientist thanked his experimental animals. After all, he owed them a number of important discoveries.
The second monument was erected recently in Tokyo by medical students. For their experiments they used 100,000 frogs, in whose honor the monument was erected.
Most major representative frog world - goliath frog (Conraua goliath). This giant frog can weigh more than three kilograms, its length is about 90 cm. The strong legs of the goliath frog allow it to make jumps three meters long.
The bullfrog, or bullfrog, is one of the largest tailless amphibians. It reaches 20.3 centimeters in length and weighs up to one and a half kilograms. This frog is one of the most common laboratory animals in North America. Thus, only in 1973 in California universities in educational and scientific purposes More than 10,000 individuals of this species were destroyed. But these animals are also actively eaten. Catching different ways(with fishing rods, nets, nets, traps) or by killing them with a gun, these frogs have been caught since ancient times festive table. Until now, about one hundred million bullfrogs are harvested in the United States annually. However, it is necessary to have a license to catch them and carry out it within strictly defined periods of time and by permitted methods. In the last decades of the last century, even frog farms were created. The bullfrog reaches marketable weight only in the third or fourth year of life. Only the meat of the hind limbs is eaten, which is even exported to other countries. These frogs also participate in frog races - jumping competitions. In one jump, some individuals are able to cover a distance of four meters. Bullfrogs are highly tamed. For example, when kept in groups, they learned to come to the feeding place only when people appeared in the laboratory, and on weekends the frogs did not approach the feeder. Bullfrogs are also characterized by the phenomenon of homing (from the English homing - feeling at home) - the ability to return to the place of capture after being released at some distance from it.
The smallest frogs found in Cuba have a body length of 8.5 mm to 12 mm.
Frogs' vision is designed in such a way that they can look forward, sideways and up at the same time. They never close their eyes for long, even while sleeping.
The wet skin of frogs has bactericidal properties. Our ancestors, knowing this, threw them into milk so that it would not turn sour.
However, not all types of frogs are harmless. For example, cocoi frogs, which live in the jungles of South America and Colombia, have been recognized as the most poisonous land animals on our planet. The poison of this frog is thousands of times stronger than potassium cyanide and 35 times stronger than the poison of the Central Asian cobra.
In Japan, frogs are considered a symbol of good luck.
IN Ancient Egypt, frogs were a symbol of resurrection and were even mummified along with the dead. This is probably due to the fact that many species of frogs that live in temperate and cold latitudes go into hibernation every year, freezing, and are resurrected again in the spring. The fact is that frogs produce a non-freezing molecule - glucose. The liquid in the tissues becomes syrupy from frost, without forming ice crystals, which allows amphibians to survive.
The first work of art that has come down to us, the title of which includes tailless animals, is Aristophanes’ comedy “Frogs,” first staged in 405 BC. e.
What does a person know about a frog and its way of life? Monotonous croaking summer evenings, unpresentable appearance (unpleasant to pick up), bulging eyes and mosquitoes as a favorite food (at least as shown in cartoons) - these are the main associations with the word “frog”. But it’s interesting: is a frog an animal or an insect?
Frog: external characteristics
True frogs are the most numerous representatives of the amphibian class. Various in size (body length from 30 to 250 mm), they are distributed throughout the world, with the exception of Antarctica and Australia.
Belonging to the family of tailless amphibians, frogs have more than 3,500 species that share external characteristics. These are teeth on mildly expressed tuberculation of the skin, swimming membranes on the hind legs. The frog's head has two huge bulging eyes, which are protected by three eyelids (lower, upper and transparent nictitating membrane) and are an order of magnitude more mobile than those of fish. In front of the eyes there are through nostrils equipped with valves and opening into the oral cavity.
Is a frog an animal or an insect?
This peculiar structure of the head helps the frog to quietly track prey: plunging into the water, the animal puts its eyes and nostrils out, breathes in this way and, looking at everything around, patiently waits for its potential lunch. The wah's hearing organ is located behind the eyes. Glass frog with her completely transparent skin is the most striking example from which to study internal structure amphibian body organs. Through the completely transparent skin, all the insides can be clearly observed. Judging by the above description, to the question “is a frog an animal or an insect?”, one can give a clear and confident answer: of course, an animal!
Amphibians have a wide range in size. The smallest is the representative of Cuba: its length is 8.5-12 mm. The largest individual from the category of amphibians is the goliath frog, a resident of Cameroon. The weight of the most outstanding representative of the species caught was 3 kg 660 grams with a total length (with outstretched paws) 87 cm. Such a large specimen loves to live “largely”, preferring crystal clear water and royally, as if on a pedestal, sitting on ledges rocks
What does a frog eat?
The lurking frog is cunning hunter, the prey of which are moving individuals: spiders, insects, worms, slugs and fish fry. Having decided on the future food moving in its field of vision, the frog in the water lets the latter closer and throws out a wide sticky tongue, to which the insect sticks. The frog is able to swallow large prey, placing it in its mouth using its forelimbs. There are known cases when swallows drinking water in flight became their victims. By running, flying, crawling past her, that is, moving; a stationary object simply will not arouse interest in a tailless amphibian.
The family of tailless amphibians is most often found on the banks of reservoirs in the warm season. The animal’s movements are so expressive and sharp that it immediately becomes clear where the expressions “swims like a frog” or “jumps like a frog” came from. When making a jump, the frog sharply straightens its legs; the force generated by such a push throws the amphibian forward and upward. Landing occurs on short front legs. The frog swims just as sharply, pushing off the water with its hind legs, between the toes of which there are membranes. If we return once again to clarifying the question “is a frog an animal or an insect?”, the answer is clear: an animal!
Frogs: how they reproduce
Reproduction in frogs occurs in the spring, after awakening from hibernation. The total number of eggs laid various types varies and ranges from 600 to 20 thousand eggs. Tadpoles feed on unicellular algae, as well as simple rotting animals and plant debris. Frogs reach sexual maturity at 2-4 years of age at total duration life 5-6 years. There have been cases where tailless amphibians have existed in captivity for more than 10 years.
The life of frogs in nature is of genuine interest because of its unusual nature. Thus, most of them leave eggs laid in the water or nearby a reservoir unattended; A minority of amphibians are concerned with parental care. For example, the male lays eggs on the back of the female, and the male Darwin's rhinoderma stores them in a special throat sac, from which the hatched and grown frogs subsequently climb out on their own.
Features of the skin of frogs
All frogs have thin, bare skin covered with mucus, which promotes the respiratory process and prevents the skin from drying out. The mucus on the skin of frogs contains substances that protect them from harmful microorganisms. In some species, this substance is even poisonous and is a kind of amulet for frogs from being eaten by other animals. Thus, poison dart frogs and leaf frogs living in the Central and South America, produce the deadliest toxins on the planet.
When on land, the moisture contained in the mucus evaporates, causing amphibians to lose it a large number of. It is for this reason that the habitat of frogs is the most comfortable wet area for them. The life of a frog in nature is interesting; An interesting fact is that amphibians do not drink water, replenishing the lack of water through the skin. Among all this smooth-skinned brethren, the hairy frog stands out noticeably; During the breeding season, males of this species are covered with patches of skin resembling hair. Characteristic feature The hairy frog is also able to release claws in times of danger, which, piercing the skin, form bones on the fingers.
Is the skin of frogs poisonous?
By the way, in ancient times leather served as the main component in the manufacture of arrow poison; one individual was enough to lubricate 500 units. The toxicity of frogs can be judged by their bright, downright garish coloring. Thus, the poison of the dart frog - an inhabitant of South America - even in an amount of 2 milligrams can kill a person.
Coloring also serves to camouflage the animal; The leader in this area is considered to be the mossy frog, which almost completely merges with the environment, even its eyes are barely visible against the background of moss.
This particular type of frog is very popular among exotic lovers who want to keep it as a pet. The beautiful coloration of a representative of the tropics is valued accordingly: the cost of one individual that can excellently climb rocks and tall trees, reaches $75.
Amazing facts from the life of frogs
The body temperature of amphibians is similar to that of environment. The following fact has been recorded: living in Alaska in winter, it freezes to such an extent that it turns into ice. In such a frozen state, the amphibian does not breathe, blood circulation and heart function stop. With the onset of spring, the animal naturally thaws, gradually returning to normal life. Such unique amphibians capable of carrying low temperature, there are only a few species on the planet; most representatives of this class are not able to survive in such conditions.
Frogs have an increased ability to survive; examples of this have been recorded more than once. In 1835, an Englishman witnessed a block of sandstone collapse to the ground from a platform and split in the middle, and a frog jumped out of its cavity. And there are a large number of such completely reliable reports about frogs walled up inside hollow blocks; this only confirms the unique ability of frogs to survive in extreme conditions.
Can a frog fly?
In the process of evolution, this amphibian learned to fly, escaping from enemies in this way. Flying specimens, which can even change their flight path (sometimes reaching 12 meters), are characterized by spreading long, webbed fingers. Frogs, with human help, are capable of setting world records.
So, in a competition organized especially for them, held in 1977 in South Africa, a frog nicknamed Sandtji jumped 10.3 meters!
How do frogs communicate with each other?
Frogs communicate with each other in a range inaccessible to the human ear through the use of ultrasounds that are beyond human audibility. This can be explained by the noisy habitat of amphibians, in which low frequencies familiar to humans are difficult to distinguish. This feature in frogs is also facilitated by the unusual location of the hearing organ; The eardrums are located behind the eyes, inside a special cavity. According to scientists, this arrangement of ears allows frogs to overcome the water noise inherent in their habitat. The most vocal frogs can cover a radius of several kilometers. From the cry of a bullfrog, heard for the first time and associated with the roar of a huge terrible beast, you can run away without looking back.
The world of amphibians is amazing and diverse. This can be proven by some Interesting Facts about frogs, creatures that, for the most part, do not evoke a surge of positive emotions.
Do you know why in the old days it was customary to throw a frog into a bucket of milk?
The fact is that there were no refrigerators at that time, and the frog’s moist skin has bactericidal properties, which is why the frog’s milk never turned sour.
Frogs have very interesting vision - they can look up, forward and sideways at the same time.
Also, the eyes of frogs play an important role in... digestion. It is with the help of the eyes that the frog helps push the food in the mouth further along the digestive tract. Therefore, having captured prey, these representatives of the amphibian world must blink. And frogs close their eyes only for a short period of time, even when they sleep.
Frogs have a unique respiratory system, because these amphibians breathe both with their lungs and with their mouth and the entire surface of their skin.
While in water, frogs breathe through their skin; on land, their lungs and mouth are responsible for their breathing. The body of frogs is designed in such a way that every time the animal plunges into water, it provokes a shutdown of the respiratory system. The circulatory system of frogs is also quite interesting: their heart consists of 2 sections, and mixed venous-arterial blood circulates in the body.
The hearing of frogs is designed in such a way that when on land they pick up sound vibrations with the help of their inner ear, and while sitting on the ground they feel audio vibrations in their skin and bones.
Frogs are the best jumpers in the animal kingdom
Representatives of some species (the frog Litoria nasuta, which lives in Australia) can overcome jumping distances 50 times their size and achieve acceleration up to 20 meters per second. Other ( Rhacophorus Nigropalmatus – Wallace's flying frogs, living in the humid jungles of Malaysia and Borneo) can not only jump superbly, but even glide, “flying” distances of 15 m.
The size range of these amphibians is quite wide. So, the smallest frog in the world is only 8.5 mm long, and it lives in Cuba.
And here is a close-up photo of the smallest frog.
The giant goliath frog is the largest of its species
– its length is 90 cm, and its weight can exceed 3 kilograms. The goliath has very strong legs, thanks to which the average jump of this frog exceeds 3 meters.
Don't think that frogs are harmless creatures. In fact, the frog is the most poisonous land animal in the world.
The breed of this frog is “ cocoi", it lives only in South America. Cocoa venom is thirty-five times more dangerous than cobra venom.
In Japan, frogs have a very revered role - there they are a symbol of luck.
And in Ancient Egypt, these creatures were also a symbol- but they personified the resurrection, and they were mummified at the same time as the deceased person. Scientists suggest that this is most likely due to the following. In temperate and cold latitudes, frogs “freeze” every year, falling into hibernation, and return to life only in the spring.
This happens because the frog produces glucose. When frozen, all liquid with glucose takes on the consistency of syrup, without the formation of crystals. This is why the frog is able to survive after a short winter sleep.
Currently, scientists have described 5 thousand species of amphibians, and 88% of these five thousand are frogs
Frog. Although small, it is symbolically a creature of great interest. It is a chthonic animal and indicates the forces of the origin of life. Moon animal that brings rain. As rising from the water means renewal of life and resurrection. Life and resurrection also depend on the presence of a moist skin of life as opposed to the dryness of death. The Great Frog, on which the universe rests, represents the dark and undifferentiated primal matter, the element of wateriness and the primordial mucus, the basis of created matter.
The frog means the transition from the element of earth to the element of water and back. This connection with the fertility of nature is an attribute deriving from its amphibious character, and for the same reason it is considered a lunar animal; Many legends tell of a frog on the moon, and in many rituals it is considered to call for rain. The antithesis of a frog is a toad, just as the wasp is the antithesis of a bee.
In various mythopoetic systems, the functions of the Frog, both positive (connection with fertility, productive power, rebirth) and negative (connection with the chthonic world, pestilence, illness, death), are determined primarily by its connection with water, in particular with rain. In the scheme of the world tree or three cosmological zones, the Frog (together with other chthonic animals) is confined, respectively, to the roots and to the lower world, primarily to underground waters. In some cases, the Frog, like a turtle, fish or any sea animal, holds the world on its back, in others it acts as the discoverer of some important cosmological elements. Among the Altai people, the Frog discovers a mountain with a birch tree and stones, from which the first fire is produced (cf. the sun in the water, symbolized by the image of the Frog, etc.). Sometimes the water elements of chaos, the original silt (or mud) from which the world arose, are associated with the Frog.
The motif of the heavenly origin of the Frog allows us to consider them (and some other chthonic animals) as transformed children (or wife) of the Thunderer, expelled to earth, into water, into the lower world [cf. the Russian sign “before the (first) thunderstorm the Frog does not croak” and widespread ideas about the Frog croaking for the rain, about their appearance along with the rain, etc.]. The connection of the Frog with the god of the sky is indirectly attested in Aesop's fable about the Frogs asking the Thunderer for a king for themselves. It manifests itself more directly in the mythological story of the African Ashanti, according to which the sky god Nyama placed the Frog as a watchman at a well where the water never runs dry, and gave her a tail for this; during a drought, the proud Frog did not allow thirsty animals and even Nyama himself to go to the well, for which he deprived her of her tail and made it so that all Frogs are born with a tail, but soon lose it. The motif of Frogs as transformed people, also known in Australian mythology, is not limited to their connection with the Thunderer: in the Philippine etiological myth, a man who fell into the water, whom his wife carried in a basket across the river, turns into a Frog; The same range of ideas includes the motive of turning to Frog for deception, images of the Frog Princess in Russian fairy tales, etc. the frog prince in German folklore (type AT 440, from the “Wedding of Animals” cycle).
The Frog itself may undergo further transformations into other images of the guardian of waters (in particular, underground). At the same time, it can also act as a source of fertility and the progenitor of the entire human race (among the Mexican Indians); This motif is associated with cases when the Frog acts as a totem (among the Mansi). Other variants of the relationship between a person and a Frog are also known (a swallowed Frog as the cause of pregnancy, a Frog as a source of illness, witchcraft performed with the help of a Frog, etc.).
Sometimes the Frog acts as a person’s assistant: she shows the way to the hero, carries him across the river, gives helpful advice and so on. At the same time, the Frog can symbolize false wisdom as a destroyer of knowledge, etc.
The image of the Frog is often introduced into mythological and fairy-tale schemes with the participation of other animals. In folklore different nations The Frog is often an object of ridicule or allusion (cf. the motif of the unarticulated sounds made by the Frog in Russian riddles: “He sits with his eyes bulging, speaks French,” “Matryona sits on a mokrin, doesn’t speak - she’s still tolerable, but as soon as she starts speaking, that’s all.” it will be vexing").
In Ancient Egypt, the gods of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad, Heket (the goddess of fertility associated with the underworld) and even Amun, were depicted with the head of a Frog.
An attribute of Kherit, the goddess who assisted Isis in her ritual resurrection of Osiris. Small frogs appeared in the Nile a few days before its flood and were therefore considered harbingers of fertility (39).
The male primal deities of Hermopolis were often depicted with the head of a frog; The frog is also a sacred animal of the goddess of childbirth Heket. Finally, mention should be made of the frog, which in later paintings is the escort of the god Nile, who ensures fertility.
The embodiment of chaos, “primary matter, wet and unsteady,” a not yet formed person.
The green frog of the Nile is new life, abundant offspring, abundance, fertility, the reproductive forces of nature, longevity and strength born from weakness. Hecht's attribute as a symbol of the ability to generate life in water. Protector of mothers and newborns. Emblem of Isis.
Thanks to its fertility and amazing metamorphoses from egg to tadpole and then to a graceful creature with four limbs. vaguely resembling a man, it symbolized emerging and constantly renewed life. Often the ancestral deities of the eightfold, emerging from the mud, were represented as frog-headed. The goddess of childbirth and fertility, Heket, a benevolent helper, according to popular belief, was considered a frog.
Antiquity Emblem of Aphrodite (Venus), fertility, debauchery, harmony between lovers.
Peasants collecting sedge, transformed into frogs, see Summer. The transformation of stingy Lycian peasants into frogs when they, unwilling to give one thirsty goddess a drink clean water, jumped into the water and muddied it. (Latona).
Northern Celtic tradition. Lord of the Earth, the power of healing waters.
Slavs 
FROG, toad - an unclean animal, related to a snake and other reptiles. The toad is considered the mother of the snake; they believe that she “plays” with the snake, like a husband and wife, and mates with him (among Ukrainians). A frog that has not seen the sun for seven years turns into a flying kite; like snakes, Frogs have their own king with a crown on his head (Poles). Frogs and toads are considered poisonous. Their venom is stronger than that of a snake, but they have been forbidden to bite a person since the creation of the world (among Belarusians). The female symbolism of the Frog is represented in Serbian and Macedonian stories about a girl converted into a Frog. Due to the resemblance of the Frog's paws to human hands, Ukrainians believe that the Frog was a woman in the past. Belarusians believe that there will be many Frogs in the house if the first visitor at Christmas, Easter and other major holidays is a woman. Russian legends associate the origin of Frogs with people who drowned during the global flood, with the biblical army of Pharaoh, drowned in the waters of the Red Sea. Until now, as if the female frogs long hair and female breasts, and males have a beard. In the future, they will become people again, and people living today will turn into Frogs. Therefore, hitting Frogs is a sin. Frogs are characterized by love and marriage symbolism. In a Russian fairy tale, a wanderer sees a Frog in the bedroom of a happy couple at night, jumping on the husband and then on the wife. Frogs are used in love magic. For example, in Ukraine, a guy catches a Frog in a swamp, the first to speak at sunrise, pierces it with a needle and thread, and then quietly threads this needle through the girl’s skirt. Old maids, in order to get married, find a Frog in a swamp and, crouching, try to hit it with a swing with their bare bottoms (for Russians). A Kashubian woman who became pregnant out of wedlock is said to have eaten too much Frogs. In the form of Frogs they represent the souls of the dead (especially unbaptized children) and the souls of children who are about to be born. In Poland, when they see a Frog in the house, they express a wish for eternal peace. The common motivation for the prohibition to kill the Frog is also connected with these ideas: the mother will die, or less often, the killer himself will die.
Killing a Frog, like other reptiles, can cause rain. Therefore, among the Eastern Slavs, during a drought, they kill the Frog, hang it on a tree branch, throw it into a well, bury it at the spring, and carry it around the village in a bast shoe. Among many Slavs, the Frog, like the snake, is credited with the role of a household patron. For example, the Slovaks believed that every house has its own “mistress” in the form of a Frog. According to Bosnian belief, such a Frog has a beneficial effect on the milk of cows. A brownie can appear in the guise of a Frog (among the Eastern Slavs, Poles). Most often, toads and frogs are seen as converted witches, who in this guise penetrate the barn and take milk from other people's cows, sucking it from the udder. According to one Russian belief, a girl cursed by her parents or unbaptized turns into a “cowfrog” that comes out of the water at night to milk the cows. According to legend, in the vicinity of Krakow, under a pair of linden trees, there lives a Frog with a human body, to whom blessed greenery is thrown on Good Friday, causing the cows to give a lot of milk. The dairy theme is also represented in methods of spoilage (taking milk from cows with the help of a Frog), in the ban on killing Frogs (loss of milk from a cow and vomiting milk as a result of violating this ban), in medical practice (treatment of fever with milk decoction from the Frog) and in signs about the first spring croaking of the Frog (if it happened on a quick day, the cows will give more milk). Signs about the weather are associated with the beginning of the croaking of Frogs. With the first cry of spring, Frogs in Bulgaria and Macedonia roll on the ground so as not to hurt their backs; in Poland they kneel and pray or sow oats and barley; in Serbia and Ukraine, fleas are expelled. The Poles believed that St. Bartholomew (24.VIII) drives the Frogs into the swamps with hop rods, after which they no longer croak, as their mouths are overgrown with silt. By spring, old swallows that have spent the winter in a swamp under water turn into Frogs.
A characteristic motif in ideas associated with Frogs is blindness. It manifests itself in the motivation for the ban on killing Frogs (whoever kills a Frog will go blind - among the Poles), in the methods of damage with the help of Frogs (to blind a person, they rub his door with frog fat - among Lusatians) and as the harmful ability of the Frog itself (its spitting in the eye makes a person blind - among the Poles). IN folk medicine The frog, as a cold-blooded creature, is especially often used to treat fever, which is symbolically associated with fire and heat. The Russians base their method of removing worms from an animal's wound on the jumping ability of Frogs: a live Frog is hung on a thread from its neck.
China In China, where Frogs are also associated with the moon, they are called “heavenly chickens”, as there is a belief that Frogs fall along with the dew from the sky.
Lunar (chimerical) animal associated with water, rain; like the toad, it corresponds to the feminine yin energy. Ancient texts state that one of the two souls of a person is like a frog (ua). With its cry, the frog asks for divine protection for all living beings.
Moon creature belonging to the yin principle. A frog in a well represents a person with a limited range of vision and understanding.
The prevailing idea was that frog eggs fall to the ground with dew, and instead of the word “wa,” the frog was called “tien-chi” (heavenly chicken), which was correlated with mythological connections with the Moon. An ancient text states that one of the two souls of a person is shaped like a frog. Many emperors and poets have gained favor by forbidding the pursuit of frogs that organize their restless choirs.
Indochina In Burma and Indochina, the image of a frog is often associated with an evil spirit that swallows the moon (therefore, the frog is considered the cause of an eclipse).
Hinduism The hymn to the frogs (Rigveda VII 103) says that Frogs appear during the rainy season and give voice, awakened to life by the thunder god Parjanya; at the same time, the Frogs turn to their relatives “like a son to his father” (that is, to Parjanya). Some researchers believe that the hymn to the Frogs is a verbal part of the ritual of making rain with the help of Frogs, which is also known in modern India. In this case, the Frogs are explained and compared with the Brahmins participating in the ritual, and with cows as zoomorphic images of fertility and abundance.
The support of the Universe, in the Vedas she is presented as the embodiment of the earth, fertilized by the first spring rains, and her cry is gratitude.
The Great Frog holding up the universe symbolizes dark, undifferentiated matter.
Judaism For the ancient Jews, it embodied the embryonic state of the soul of a person who is still barely aware of himself and is just beginning to turn to wisdom; a neophyte, not yet spiritually formed, but on the path of formation.
In the later period, the image of a frog becomes a symbol of rebirth - taken over from early Christianity and equipped with a postscript: “I am the resurrection.” ???
Christianity "Execution of Egypt" in the form of an invasion of frogs (toads). 
The negative meaning is repeated in the Revelation of John the Evangelist (Ex 8:2-14; Rev 16:13).
In addition, the frog is a symbol of the arrogant ignorant, who intends to destroy wisdom with his false speculations; It is in this sense that the Apocalypse speaks of three wicked ones, similar to frogs.
Symbolizes both the resurrection and the disgusting aspect of sin, evil, heretics, insatiable enjoyment of worldly pleasures, envy, greed.
The church fathers considered life in the mud and the croaking of frogs to be symbols of the devil or heretical false teaching.
In Coptic Egypt, on the contrary, from ancient times other, positive images appeared, according to which frogs symbolizing the resurrection were depicted on lamps.
Attribute of St. Herve and Pirmin from Reichenau, who, according to legend, could silence all the ill-wishers of the frogs from the quagmire surrounding his island with one ban.
As an object of religious statements, the frog appears in the testimony of the visionary (spirit seer) from Styria Jakob Lorber (1800-1864), who supposedly received the following instruction from the “Lord and Savior”: “The frog croaks almost all day about the feeling of life in its swamp and praises Me in its the croaking joy of having life.” Therefore, a frog can serve a person no worse than the “teaching apostles.”
Magic Frogs played such a prominent role in folk magic that Pliny remarked: judging by magicians, frogs are more important to the world than all laws. It was believed, for example, that a frog's tongue placed on the heart of a sleeping woman would force her to answer all questions truthfully.
Emblem Frog. Both water and land suit me. A symbol of choosing activities according to abilities and behavior in accordance with emerging circumstances.
A frog sucking out the eyes of a large fish. This is more cunning than strength. “... skill and cunning can give birth to things that are far from power and strength.
Occultism According to Blavatsky, the frog was one of the main creatures associated with the idea of creation and resurrection: not only due to its amphibiousness, but also due to the periodicity of its appearance and disappearance (phases characteristic of all lunar animals). For some time, frog gods were placed with mummies, and the early Christians included them in their symbolic system (9).
Psychology 
Life impulse, fertility. The symbolism of the frog is close to the idea of embryonic creation (as well as the symbolism of the bear). As a rule, this amphibian appears as the resultant regressive force. She also embodies indecision, for the latter can again plunge into oblivion. Jung sums this up with his comment that the frog, in regard to its anatomy, more than any other cold-blooded animal, anticipates man.
A. Teilhard recalls that in the center of his painting “The Temptations of St. Anthony” Bosch places a frog with the head of an elderly human being on a wooden plate held by a black woman. Here the frog represents the highest stage of evolution. This explains the frequent “transformation of the prince into a frog” in legends and folk tales.
The metamorphoses of the frog in fairy tales make it the embodiment of various stages of mental development, the transition to a higher state. She is also a symbol sexual relations(for example, predicts the conception of Beauty in the Sleepy Forest); the fairy tale taps into the unconscious realm of each individual child and helps him accept the form of sexuality that is appropriate for his age, making him receptive to the idea that his sexuality will also undergo a metamorphosis.
A representative of depth psychology, Eppley recalls that, as an amphibious animal, although the frog inspires disgust in many, it acts as a symbol of dreams in a positive capacity. The stages of her becoming a mature creature, “despite the fact that her flipper-like paws are similar to human hands, made this animal an analogue of the lower level of soul transformations. That’s why in fairy tales (“The Frog King,” for example) a male frog turns out to be a prince, and a despicable one becomes a venerable one. In the frog one feels, for the most part, the fullness of life, in the toad its burdens. She is a dream animal with distinct maternal-feminine manifestations.”
Frogs live in the meadows in wet forests and swamps, as well as along the banks of quiet rivers and picturesque lakes. These unique ones are prominent representatives of the order of tailless amphibians.
The size of frogs depends on the species: European frogs are usually no larger than one decimeter. North American frog - can be twice as large. And the African frog, which is a kind of record holder, reaches gigantic sizes of half a meter in size and a weight of several kilograms.
In the photo there is a goliath frog
There are also small species of frogs (the family of narrow-mouthed frogs, or microfrogs), whose length is less than a centimeter.
In the photo there is a microfrog frog
External signs group of animal frogs are: a stocky figure, protruding eyes, shortened forelimbs in comparison with the folding hind limbs, a toothless lower jaw, a forked tongue and the absence of a tail.
Frogs are cold-blooded animals, that is, they have a body temperature that directly depends on the state of the environment. The frog group of amphibian animals is impressive and diverse, including about five hundred species. It is believed that their original habitat was Africa.
With the help of similar devices that nature has provided frogs with, they are able to produce the widest range of sounds. This is an amazing cacophony, and such magnificent concerts are staged by male frogs, attracting relatives of the opposite sex.
By watching frogs you can learn many interesting and amazing things. In episodes of life, escape from enemies and other unusual situations, amphibian frogs sometimes behave extremely unusually. Periodically, the frog sheds its skin, which is not an organ necessary for life, and by eating it continues to live until a new one grows.
Domestic frogs often kept in aquariums, trying to be closer to nature. Many species of frogs bred in scientific laboratories for experiments and biological research.
Nutrition
Insectivorous frogs They are predators, happily eating small invertebrates. Particularly large ones do not disdain more impressive prey; some species of animal frogs even mercilessly devour their own relatives.
To hunt their victims, frogs use a sticky and long tongue, which they deftly catch midges and other living creatures in mid-flight. Among the frog species there are also omnivores that happily eat fruit.
Frogs bring enough benefits to humans, destroying and eating many harmful ones, and. Therefore, many owners of vegetable gardens and household plots treat such helpers with great sympathy and create all the conditions for them to breed and live.
Frogs are eaten, making them extremely original dishes, which are delicacies and are used for gourmet tables.
Reproduction and lifespan
Frogs breed, laying eggs in the water, and its quantity is truly enormous and amazing, sometimes reaching up to 20 thousand eggs at a time. Grass and pond frogs lay up to hundreds of eggs, which are large lumps. Sometimes females do this in groups.
The eggs hatch into tadpoles. These creatures are frog larvae, breathe through gills, can exist and move only in aquatic environment and have a tail. The transformation of eggs into tadpoles takes from 7 to 10 days.
Over time, the tadpoles begin to change greatly and go through a stage of metamorphosis, which lasts about 4 months. First, their hind limbs grow, then their forelimbs, then the tail-rudder disappears, and the tadpoles turn into adults with distinctive features a type of frog ready for life on earth. At three years old, frogs become sexually mature.
The photo shows frog eggs
Measuring the lifespan of frogs is quite difficult. But according to the data scientific research, using measurements of the growth of the phalanges of the fingers by season, data were obtained that allowed us to believe that adult individuals are able to live up to 10 years, and taking into account the tadpole stage, up to 14 years.
