 |
People who are Crazy About Frogs
|
by: Susan Rubinowitz
|
|
Frogs
must be onto something. They learned to dart out
of the path of dinosaurs 200 million years ago and
survived long after those giants perished. Today
you can find a frog on every continent but Antarctica,
in ponds, rainforests or undistinguished backyards,
glimmering in a skin of pearly blue or vivid garnet
– or happy to be just an ordinary green frog, splashing
in a child’s aquarium.
For some people, frogs and their relatives, toads,
are weirdly bug-eyed, slimy creatures better left
on a mud flat. But an extraordinary number of people
are – well, frog people. For these humans, the implacable
frog represents rejuvenation, peaceful karma and
all-knowing wisdom.
Many frog-lovers keep their pets in simple aquariums
that combine water and some land, or in a man-made
pond outdoors that’s been left to natural algae
growth so it attracts the insects frogs savor. Others
frog fans are fanatic about frog images – from cheap,
plastic toys to expensive carvings.
The Frog Collectors
Ivana Trump, the high-society entrepeneur/actress
once married to The Donald, collects frog miniatures.
And even President Clinton became a frog collector
of sorts – although he may wish he never saw one.
Former Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s report on
the affair between President Clinton and Monika
Lewinsky noted that, among the gifts the young woman
sent Clinton, were ``a wooden letter opener with
a frog on the handle... (and) a plastic pocket frog.’’
At The Frog Store, an Internet boutique, frog lovers
can satisfy almost any craving: frog dinnerware,
frog-headed razors, frog night-lights, clothing
and bedspreads. The store’s been in business 15
years, said Melissa Boyd, a frog owner in Oregon.
Cultures around the world have linked the frog to
rain, the moon, fertility and metamorphosis – because
of the frog’s dramatic change from a tadpole. Some
people believe those who feel a kinship to frogs
can sense other people’s feelings and sympathize
more easily.
Favorite Species
``I think amphibians are the favorite of all the
species for some people, because they seem to be
a symbol of quiet wetlands. They have a certain
placid quality, a comical and non-threatening quality,’’
said Jud Newborn, a cultural anthropologist who
keeps frogs in his backyard pond on Long Island.
But Newborn said the growing popularity of frogs
– fed by images like Kermit – doesn’t seem to go
hand in hand with any increased effort to protect
them. ``I have the uncomfortable feeling that the
more a species becomes endangered, threatened or
disappearing, the more people start transforming
them into fetishes,’’ said Newborn.
The frog’s skin is so thin that scientists believe
it’s the first animal to react to toxic substances
in the environment. Researchers are closely studying
pollutants as a possible cause for deformities in
Minnesota frogs in recent years, and Clinton has
asked Congress to fund more research.
Laurie Caple, a children’s book illustrator from
Rice Lake, Wis., has designed frog prints to raise
money for the Minnesota frog-preservation project.
As a frog lover, she couldn’t stand by, she said.
``Oh, gosh, I think they’re fascinating; I think
they’re beautiful,’’ said Caple, who likes to watch
frogs climb her window at night to catch bugs.
She quoted a Senegalese philosopher, Baba Dioum:
``In the end we will conserve only what we love;
we will love what we understand; and we will understand
only what we are taught,’’ she said.
|
|
|
|
