Stanley Explains How Frogs Smell with Their Mouth September 6, 2020

 September 6, 2020

Sunday’s on the Porch with Stanley

Me: Good morning Stanley!

How are you today?

Stanley: I’m doing absolutely wonderful. I can smell fall in the air. Isn’t it lovely?

Me: Hmm. It is a bit cooler out here. You can really smell fall? What does it smell like to you?

Stanley: Well, you know we frogs have pretty good olfactory systems. I can sense changes through my eyes and my elegant skin but mostly I smell in my mouth.

Me: In your mouth, really? That seems like it’d be a bit confusing. How does that work with your sense and enjoyment of taste?

Stanley: Chuckling. We frogs really aren’t too fussy about what we eat you know. But, haven’t you seen frogs open and close their mouths while sitting on a lily pad in a luscious buggy pond?

Me: Now, that I think about it, yes, I guess I have.

Stanley: Well, we’re smelling things when we do that. We’re usually smelling to locate food. You know a delectable little fly morsel, or a yummy moth.

Me: Oh yuck! Those don’t sound good to me at all. I can’t imagine eating a moth. Don’t they have a powdery residue all over them?

Stanley: They do! And before you go all “judgy” on me think about the powdered sugar donuts I watched you dunk in your coffee last week.

Me: Oh my!

Stanley: Touché!