The frog apocopase has begun by Kori Park

Article no.1: “A mushroom grew in a strange place: the side of a frog” -NYT

kpark5338 — 2024-05-03 14:00:04 UTC

A researcher, Lohit YT, was in India studying herpetology when he stumble upon a frog with a mushroom growing from it’s side. The mushroom, a bonnet mushroom typically live on decaying plant matter and not all fungi produce mushrooms. So the fact that the fungi on a frog was able to produce a mushroom is interesting. Fungi can’t form mushrooms without threadlike cells (mycelia) to absorb nutrients, so the mycelia are either on the frog’s skin or within its body.

Article no.2: “Mushroom growing on live frog surprises researchers” - Forbes

kpark5338 — 2024-05-03 14:06:10 UTC

When encountering the frog with a mushroom on its flank, the mushroom does not appear to be harming the skin of the frog in anyway. This may be due to antimicrobial secretions on the skin of the frog which makes it even more surprising that the mushroom was able to grow to begin with. It is hypothesized that the mushroom is caused by a fungal infection of the frogs skin.

Article no.3: “A frog in indian has a mushroom sprouting out of it. Researchers have never seen anything like it” - CNN

kpark5338 — 2024-05-03 14:13:09 UTC

The mushroom a bonnet mushroom that was found growing on the frog has been proven to be able to survive on decaying and living matter. It is theorized that there is a symbiotic relationship between the frog and the mushroom. Fungus infections on frogs is a common occurrence due to their shared environment, however, the presence of a full mushroom is entirely different. This however could have increased the frog’s likeliness to contract chytridiomycosis.

Oh!

2024-05-03 14:21:54 UTC

As gross as this is, I find it very interesting that this could be possible. I hope that the frog will be okay. I like how the scientists didn’t take it to study it, and instead let it be. However, I would be interested to see how this happened.

-Samantha