Separated at Birth

Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please!

Here I have two photos, taken a good year and a half apart. The top one is, as I'm sure you'll know, being studious sorts, a Tomato Frog. It's not the best picture you'll see of one -- this is, for my money -- but nonetheless, this squat little beast is one of the great unheralded treasures of the Manchester Museum, or at least of its Vivarium.

It's from Madagascar, and is basically nocturnal, and lives in marshy areas, squatting in the mud, where rather than chasing its prey it waits for its victims to stumble into its way, at which point it'll make you regret having crossed its path. Charming, eh? Oh, and it gives off a sticky white mucus, just for the craic. I don't know whether it coughs it up, or just generally oozes it, or even what it looks like.

 

I'm picturing Brandy Sauce, oddly, that staple of the Christmas dinner from my old hall, but then that's because I've always found it a suspicious looking substance.

Anyway, so much for the red-faced toad, or whatever. (Toads and frogs are taxonomically identical, as I've already told you* so why not the Tomato Toad? it's surely more toad-like than frog-like.)

To the right, then, is a purple bag belonging to the Ginger Beast herself, which, as I'm sure you'll agree, looks uncannily like the aforementioned amphibian. It does, though, doesn't it? I wonder has she named it. Do people name bags?

Probably not.

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* What do you mean you weren't listening? Look, if you don't make an effort you're never going to pass your exams, you know. Some people...