Photo: Twitter/@salamander_jill
Mother nature has proven time and time again that she can be mysterious. Just this week alone we’ve seen giant, bizarre sea creatures wash up on beaches and an old lady attacked by a rabid otter, but what you see above isn’t simply bizarre or mysterious, it’s down right outlandishly haunting — nearly supernatural.
A college student from Amherst, Mass. named Jill Fleming recently posted her discovery from 2016 on Twitter, a faceless toad she found jumping around in the forest. Other than, ya know, missing it’s entire face, it seemed perfectly healthy, hopping around with a complete body and legs.
The faceless toad was found in a state forest in Connecticut, leaving researches like Jill dumbfounded.
Still puzzled by this find from 2016! An apparently “faceless” toad. Kept hopping into things. Had a small mouth hole- maybe esphogus/glottis (no maxilla or mandible, I think)? It was early spring so I think it must have come out of brumation like this. Any thoughts herp Twitter? pic.twitter.com/bFSLlakhs1
— Jill Fleming (@salamander_jill) February 27, 2018
No eyes. No nose. No jaw. No tongue.
Still alive.
So how could this be real? There’s one solid, possible reason.
“My initial thought, which I still believe is a likely explanation, was that the extensive injury was inflicted by one of the toad’s many natural predators during hibernation (for example, garter snakes or American mink),” she says.
“For whatever reason, the predator did not finish the job and the toad was able to become active again on that early spring day—amphibians are incredibly resilient.”
And just because I want to haunt your dreams forever, here’s our toad in action.
Found the video. pic.twitter.com/cZJhDWEzOm
— Jill Fleming (@salamander_jill) February 27, 2018
So cold-blooded amphibians like the American Toad need to hibernate to survive the winter. Sometimes predators get to them during hibernation, a time when the amphibians aren’t even breathing. If the predator doesn’t devour them entirely, they can still heal and emerge weeks later with severe, yet survival injuries.
So, there ya go.
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Josh Helmuth is a contributor for Mandatory who likes his amphibians to have faces. Follow him here.
