Last weekend, Dave and I went to the beach about 3.5 hours south of our town. On our walk at 8am to the tuk-tuks which would take us to the bus which would take us to the beach, we passed not just one but three dead frogs being eaten by ants! Judging from the flesh remaining on the frogs, I would guess that they had been dead for maybe an hour or two, perhaps since sunrise.

It wasn’t sleeping. It would wake up from the ants gnawing on its skin and its eyes. One of the frogs we passed by was missing a quarter of its flesh. What amazed me is that these frogs died standing on the sidewalk. They didn’t look like they were struggling or running away from something. In fact, the three frogs were all standing a few meters away from each other but facing the same direction, west.

How did the frogs die???

Maybe they were standing on the sidewalk watching the sun set the night before. Then they froze to death. The only problem is, it doesn’t get really cold here.

Maybe they were playing follow the leader and then the first frog somehow got stuck to the sidewalk. The following frogs also stopped because that’s what you do in the game, copy the leader’s movements or non-movements. The first frog couldn’t call for help because he can’t talk. After a while, ants attacked and disabled their vital organs. All the while the first frog couldn’t move because it was stuck, the other frogs because of the game.

Maybe they got burned to death when the sun rose. As the sun was rising, the frogs were trying to outrun it, thus heading west, but they were too slow. The sun’s rays increased their body temperatures until their body gave up.

Maybe they were poisoned.

Any other ideas?