Scientists recently shared the story of one such species — Eiffinger’s tree frog — whose tadpoles have adapted a bizarre method to prevent polluting their tiny water homes before they are large enough to live on land: They do not poop during the early stages of development.
Restricted habitats, resourceful solutions
The Eiffinger’s tree frog, native to the Japanese islands of Ishigaki and Iriomote, has a particularly gruelling time bringing up its babies. The tiny frogs breed in small pools, often inside hollows or bamboo stumps that provide relatively secure habitation but also restrictive quarters.
But in these small spaces, the tadpoles need to figure out a way of dealing with their poo without poisoning the water on which they rely. This is because the tadpoles of Eiffinger’s tree frog are unlike the tadpoles of many other frog species that can excrete highly toxic ammonia in their poop and have it diluted into the larger body of water. If they were allowed to defecate too much their faeces would start to release ammonia, risking the survival of the whole brood.
Collapse: An Amazing Adaptation
With some discovery of their own, the team at Nagoya University in Japan solved this mystery with an extraordinary adaptation observed from Eiffinger’s tree frog tadpoles — they do not defecate at all during early developmental stages. This ability enabled the tadpoles to accumulate high concentrations of ammonia within their bodies rather than transferring waste out in the environment.
This characteristic waterborne delay ensures that tadpoles keep their little water worlds neat and ammonia-free. A method of parasite survival similar to that exhibited by some bee and ant larvae, which keep their waste inside them like caged children to ensure the purity of the compound in which they grow.
The Eiffinger’s tree frog tadpoles are able to live in these conditions because they hang on to their waste, something that is impossible for non-Eiffinger-type frogs.
Conclusion
The case of Eiffingers tree frog that is able to delay its defecation almost indefinitely in order not to pollute its water source amply proves this point. The adaptation presents a world of habitat dependence and ecosystem that shows how even the microenvironments need to be preserved in order for the various species, who have grown specifically adapted to exploit these small habitats, can survive.
