Tag: amphibians

God’s Stuff: Red Eft

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

How about some of God’s stuff, instead of man’s?

Red efts are immature Eastern newts. They live on land instead of in the water. When they grow up, they turn green and head for the nearest pond.

I can’t think of any other animal clad in this vermilion shade, and I’ve never seen video that quite fully captures the brilliance of this color. The eft can afford to be conspicuous: any animal that eats one has poisoned itself. Like toads, efts’ skin is full of toxic chemicals.

It’s easy enough to refraid from eating them; and we can enjoy their gorgeous color to our hearts’ content.

Another Animal You Never Heard Of

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

I have to go to the nursing home, but let me first leave you with this. “This” being a caecilian.

A what? It took me years just to learn how to spell it. Caecilians are totally legless amphibians that live in the tropics, mostly keeping out of sight by burrowing in mud and leaf litter. Some are quite small, and might be mistaken for worms, The biggest are almost five feet long. And they all have skin growing over their eyes, so they can see the difference between light and darkness–which is more than you can say for a lot of intellectuals–but not much more.

Considering their secretive habits and the not very nice environments in which they live, it’s kind of surprising that we know about caecilians at all. Almost as hard as it is to believe they’re related to frogs.

Just goes to show: there is more to God’s Creation than any mortal mind can fully grasp, more than anyone will ever know–and its greatness testifies to His greatness.