How to milk a frog
Posted by staff / January 6, 2013 chemical defensesfrogValerie C. Clark
It looks cruel, but Dr. Valerie C. Clark, who studies the chemical defenses of frogs, says this process of milking the glands of a waxy monkey treefrog isn’t as bad as it looks. The Matses Indians of the Peruvian Amazon gently scrape the secretions from the head and legs of the frog and release it after a few minutes without harm. The secretions contain powerful peptides that the Matses hunters burn into their skin, which induces vomiting, and unconsciousness. When they awake they “feel like gods,” and are able to hunt with an acute alertness and indifference to pain.
Full story and video at National Geographic Explorers Journal.
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