If you’re from Texas you may have heard the story of Ol’ Rip, a lizard that was sealed in a time capsule for 30 years, but found alive when the capsule was opened.
That story is far from the only one about lizards or amphibians being found alive in seemingly impossible locations. But, before we get into other examples of “entombed” animals, I thought I’d share Ol’ Rip’s fascinating story.
Blinky The Texas Horned Lizard
Ol’ Rip was a Texas horned lizard (also called a horned toad) that was captured in Eastland County, Texas, by 4-year-old Will Wood, who originally named him Blinky. Will’s dad, Eastland County Clerk Ernest E. Wood, had read that horned lizards could live up to 100 years in hibernation.
Around that time, in 1897, a time capsule was to be placed inside a newly built courthouse in the county. Wood decided to test the theory and suggested placing the horned lizard inside the keystone capsule.
Ol’ Rip Is Reborn
In 1928, 31 years later, the capsule was to be opened and word spread about the lizard, attracting over 1,000 people to bear witness. When it was opened, the lizard was retrieved and it lurched back to life. He was then renamed “Ol’ Rip” after Rip Van Winkle. This lizard even met President Calvin Coolidge before its death a year later.
A Hoax?
Not everyone was convinced of Ol’ Rip’s authenticity. Wood had stated that he wasn’t entirely sure Blinky had been placed in the capsule in the first place, and others have argued that the conditions weren’t right for the lizard to enter hibernation. Further, it has been suggested that, due to the buzz about the lizard, the unveiling of the live lizard was an orchestrated stunt.
What do you think?
The Phenomenon of Entombed Animals
Even though Ol’ Rip’s story has been met with skepticism, it’s just one of many stories about lizards, frogs and toads being found in nearly unbelievable locations.
1733 – Wamlingebo, Sweden
Two quarry workers split a block of sandstone and found a grey frog covered with a yellow membrane inside. The rock was from the Solarian Hamra formation, believed to be 410 million years old. The frog barely moved, but appeared alive, it is now known as “the frog of Nybro.”
1782 – Paris, France
Benjamin Franklin wrote about quarry workers who claimed to have found two toads inside an encased limestone boulder, one appearing to be alive. Franklin visited the site, estimated the boulder to be a few thousand years old, and studied the pair of frogs. By then, however, the living one had also died.
1825 – Oxfordshire, England
Professor Reverend William Buckland tested the phenomenon by sealing 24 toads in a block of limestone and in sandstone, then buried them for a year.
Upon retrieval, all toads in the sandstone block had died, but some in the limestone block had survived. However, Buckland noticed cracks in the limestone, so he fixed the cracks and resealed the toads. Unfortunately, the next time it was opened, all toads had died.
1865 – Devonshire, England
Gasfitter Eric G. Mackley wrote in a letter to Julian Huxley, a British evolutionary biologist, that he had found 23 frogs encased in the concrete walls of a home, which hopped away when released.
1876 – Uitenhage, South Africa
According to the South African newspaper Uitenhage Times, sawyers cutting a 16-ft trunk into lumber uncovered a hole the size of a wine glass. Inside were 68 small toads, which hopped out and away as if nothing had happened. All about them was solid yellow wood, with nothing to indicate how they could have got there, how long they had been there, or how they could have lived without food, drink, or air.
Hibernating Lizards?
Whether or not Ol’ Rip was in fact Blinky, what Wood had read about hibernating reptiles and amphibians wasn’t necessarily false.
Now, mammals like bears hibernate by consuming enough food that their body can live off their fat stores during frigid conditions. What amphibians and reptiles do is slightly different from hibernation – it’s a process called estivation.
Estivation
Estivation is a process whereby an animal slows their metabolic rate down to near death in order to survive. The animal will often burrow into the ground or find a cool, sheltered spot to reduce its body temperature and minimise its water loss.
This adaptation helps animals survive periods of extreme heat and drought. They essentially press “pause” on living. But for an animal to be able to enter estivation long enough that they can be sealed shut in a rock or other impossible place seems unlikely.
The Wood Frog
An animal that has a unique estivation mechanism is the wood frog, which can freeze its body over winter and thaw out in the spring. The frog’s liver produces a special antifreeze that prevents its body fluids from freezing, allowing it to survive temperatures as low as –18 °C.
The Texas Horned Frog
The Texas horned frog can enter estivation during frigid conditions for a period of around 6 months by hiding in moist, loose soil.
Extremophiles
Animals have developed remarkable survival abilities over time, allowing some species to survive for millions of years and in diverse environments.
If you’d like to learn more about extremophiles and different examples of them – here is a fun article to check out.
So Is “Lizards in Rocks” a Real Thing?
Many reports could be misinterpretations, with possible exaggerations about there being no crevices that allowed frogs or lizards to enter and appear to be encased.
Further, this phenomenon was reported quite a lot over a period of less than 200 years, meaning it might have been a trend at the time. Particularly because there is no existing physical evidence to suggest that all the reports were true.
However, most tales do come from some semblance of truth, and it isn’t impossible to believe that these animals put themselves in a state of estivation just to became sealed later.
Any Other Animals in Rocks?
Not in the same way, no. Of course, fossils are rocks that are created over millions of years of sediment hardening around a dead plant or animal. But the point is the animal or plant is dead.
There have also been many specimens found of insects trapped in amber. Amber starts out as tree resin, which is sticky and traps insects in the same way bees sometimes get trapped in honey. The resin hardens with fossilization, and whatever was caught inside is preserved. Amber is particularly cool given that it’s somewhat transparent, allowing us to see anything trapped.
Further Scientific Exploration
Maybe there’s something we can learn from the unique survival abilities that animals have evolved over millions of years. Perhaps we can learn how to prolong our own survival or learn to withstand severe climate change. Who knows.
Conclusion
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