strange are the ways of women - women drinks bottle of tadpoles

Strange are the ways of women ! ~ there are things in nature, which are not generally liked by people. It is an offence that in some countries could spawn a full scale airport security alert. The news is about a South Korean woman  stopped at Guangzhou Airport in China after she tried to smuggle dozens of tadpoles past customs officials- and can you imagine, how ?

Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura.  Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is found in tropical rainforests. There are approximately 4,800 recorded species, accounting for over 85% of extant amphibian species. The body plan of an adult frog is generally characterized by a stout body, protruding eyes, cleft tongue, limbs folded underneath and the absence of a tail in adults. Besides living in fresh water and on dry land, the adults of some species are adapted for living underground or in trees.

Its young – a tadpole [in my young days, I mistook them for fish in the temple tank as they look so similar when seen from top] -  is the larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly that of a frog or toad. They are usually wholly aquatic, though some species have tadpoles that are terrestrial.  During the tadpole stage of the amphibian life cycle, most respire by means of autonomous external or internal gills. They do not usually have arms or legs until the transition to adulthood, and typically have a large, flattened tail with which they swim by lateral undulation, similar to most fish.

As a tadpole matures, it most commonly metamorphosizes by gradually growing limbs and tadpoles late in development will often be found near the surface of the water, where they breathe air.  Most tadpoles are herbivorous, subsisting on algae and plants.  The tadpole stage can be as short as two weeks or as long as three years.  Tadpoles dive from their eggs into a dangerous jungle pool. To survive for long, they'll have to make their way past a gauntlet of predators.

In March 2013, this newsitem that appeared in Mail Online makes one ponder about the extent to which people will go.  It reads nauseating and sort of unthinkable.

The bizarre encounter began when guards at Guangzhou Airport noticed the south Korean woman having  a bottle of liquid in her hand luggage as she tried to board a plane home.   Following international flight rules to the letter, the guards told the woman to drink the liquid or throw it away. Opting for the former, the unnamed woman swilled the liquid in one attempt. But when the beady-eyed officials noticed she had not swallowed, they demanded she spit it out into a bucket.

Upon doing so, dozens of tiny frog young rushed from her mouth to the horror of passengers and guards alike. When confronted about the bizarre plan, she said she had been given the tadpoles by a friend and did not want to lose them.  Unconvinced, the guards made her throw the poles away before boarding the plane. It is not the first time a passenger has attempted to smuggle live amphibians through airport security but the methodology perhaps would be the first. 

Strange are the ways of women !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

30^th Dec 2014.