Holland, Mich.--A hands-on experience of getting to see real live frogs gave some of Ms. Emily Wells’ students at Holland New Tech High School a pleasant surprise on Wednesday, May 15. The freshmen in Biology class and the juniors in Genetics class were treated to this event when Zack, Ms. Wells’ boyfriend, took a day off of work to bring in some very interesting
different “color morphs” of frogs and toads. Like Ms. Wells, Zack has a degree in zoology from Michigan State University. He breeds frogs for zoos and aquariums for a living. Among other things, he explained frog breeding to the Biology class using Punnett squares.
“He brought in four different color morphs of tinctorius frogs,” Ms. Wells said. “Despite being different colors, they’re all one species and can interbreed. They’re 99.99% identical.”
Some types of frogs Zack brought in were poison arrow frogs, red-eyed tree frogs, and albino frogs.
One of the most interesting amphibians he brought in was a marine toad. It weighed four pounds. Believe it or not, that’s only half-grown! One unfortunate incident occurred with this marine toad when it urinated after being held for an extended period of time.
“He peed a lot,” Ms. Wells said. “For the freshmen, it was probably the highlight of their day. I was thrilled, obviously.”
“Overall, people seemed to enjoy it. It was really fun for me, and I’m glad he had the time to come in and share those animals. It’s always fun and exciting to connect what you’re learning to something living and breathing.”
