They've Got the Museum Hopping
By Tracy Grant
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 8, 2008; Page WE52
With all due respect to Kermit, we think he had it wrong: It may, after all, be pretty easy being green -- or sapphire blue or sunshine yellow or burnt sienna.
Consider how the star attractions of "Frogs! A Chorus of Colors" at the National Geographic Museum spend their days: in tropical habitats surrounded by lush bromeliads disturbed only by the squeals of delighted children or the gasps of marveling adults.
The exhibit features 150 live frogs in a variety of environments and interactive stations that allow children of all ages to be mesmerized by the nature show. On a recent weekday morning, 16-month-old Emerson LaOrden toddled up to see the African clawed frogs diving -- webbed feet pushing the water aside -- in their pond. Emerson's older brother Oscar, 3, said his favorite frogs were "the one that swims and the silly ones." He also liked the game that encourages kids to see how far they can jump and compare themselves to a frog.
Although the carefully laid-out exhibit has much for little kids (the habitats are low, allowing a frog's-eye view for those as young as Emerson), there is also much to delight, inform and, well, gross out older kids.
A video of how frogs eat features a particularly graphic scene involving an African bullfrog and a mouse. Let's put it this way: It doesn't end well for the mouse.
Parents who remember dissecting frogs in high school biology may get a kick out of a kiosk on "virtual" dissection. There's no smell of formaldehyde as the computerized frog is splayed on its back; visitors can pick the tools needed to pin it down, cut through muscle and expose internal organs. (We warned you about the gross-out factor.)
The "Create a Chorus" station encourages visitors to explore frog sounds. Simultaneously pushing random buttons creates a headache-inducing cacophony, but listening to each individual sound reveals delights, such as the carpenter frog's claptrap cadence and the songbirdlike chorus of the spring peeper. And surprise, surprise: The pig frog sounds like . . . a pig.
But as cool as the interactive stations are, the stars are definitely the frogs. Check out three black-, white- and gray-speckled Amazon milk frogs breathing in a lazy yet synchronized fashion while resting single file on a branch.
The ornate horned frog is aptly named. Its green back is lushly mottled. Too fat to go searching for food, it instead cleverly waits for unsuspecting prey to wander by. The sign next to the exhibit says the frogs are called "little green bulldogs" because they will take on any invader, including humans, biting and holding on until they are pried off.
Be sure to save time for the "Where's Waldo"-like centerpiece of the exhibit called "Find the Frogs." The largest terrarium of the show holds 75 vibrantly colored poison dart frogs, representing 11 species. Four cameras in the floor-to-ceiling habitat let visitors zoom in and pan around to see as many of the multi-hued creatures as possible. Some are shyly hiding among the dense foliage, while others brazenly crawl up the glass seeking attention.
The exhibit ends with dazzling frog photography by Mark W. Moffett that suffers only by the comparison of having just seen the real thing.
