Eerie disfigured hand seen at Georgia park turns stomachs. It’s not what it seems

One of nature’s wonders turned stomachs on social media this week, when Georgia State Parks officials shared a photo of what appears to be a “disfigured,” almost alien-looking hand.

“This image upsets my core,” wrote Allie Lockhart-Shafiq on the park system’s Facebook page.

“What the heck am I looking at?” asked another commenter. “Looks like a 2 a.m. movie on the SYFY channel.”

That’s a good analogy, but closer inspection reveals it’s a human hand — as seen through a large cluster of translucent and very gooey wood frog eggs.

The “weird as can be” glob was found last week at Smithgall Woods State Park, about 90 miles northeast of Atlanta, and park officials seized the moment to discuss a creature that has superpowers of a sort.

“Did you know that the wood frog has adapted to cold climates by freezing over the winter?” the park’s post said.

“When temperatures begin to drop, the frogs stop breathing and their hearts stop beating. The frogs produce an antifreeze substance in their bodies that prevents ice from forming within their cells, but allows ice to form in the spaces between their cells.”

The frogs “thaw out” when temperatures warm up and resume eating and mating, the park added.

“I’m going to go ahead and say yuck!” someone responded to the park’s post. “But thanks for sharing!”

This story was originally published January 20, 2020 at 5:51 AM with the headline "Eerie disfigured hand seen at Georgia park turns stomachs. It’s not what it seems."