Toad In The Coal??

Saw another young toad this morning.  He was just about an inch and a half long, which means he managed to survive through this heatwave as a baby toad.   I find that amazing.  But we know that toads and frogs burrow into the earth and hibernate when things get tough.  With this drought and heatwave lasting so long, I wondered how much longer our little frogs and toads could last.  Then today, my husband mentioned a story he had read about a live frog being discovered encased in a lump of coal.   "Impossible", I thought.   Then I looked it up.   Apparently, there have been a fair number of reported findings of live frogs and toads found in geodes, lumps of coal and petrified stumps over the course of the past few centuries.  Most scientists have scoffed at the phenomena, although there have been reports all over the world that are startlingly similar in describing a mucous coat on the mouth and very slow vitals.  Can a toad slow his breathing and function so dramatically that they can actually be encased in coal or rock until released??  Scientists say it is impossible.  But who knows how long toads can stay underground? 

http://www.aquiziam.com/unexplained-phenomenon.html

If all this sounds vaguely familiar to you, you might be thinking of  "Toad in the Hole", an English recipe featuring sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding.  I will not mention this recipe to any of the inhabitants of the pond.