89% of Its Blood Vanishes Every Morning | Glass Frog Full Documentary #glassfrog #wildlife

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]This animal has blood, a beating heart, but when it falls asleep, the red disappears. [music] Look past the skin.

[00:00:10]You see tiny bones. You see green muscles.

[00:00:14]But where is the fluid to pump?

[00:00:18]It sits on a leaf in the thick rainforest. Shadows move, and yet, the hunter walks right past.

[00:00:27]To a bird, this is not meat. It is just a drop of water, a wet spot, a piece of glass on the leaf.

[00:00:36]It is a glass frog.

[00:00:38]It holds a secret inside its clear body, a secret of light.

[00:00:44]The sun goes down.

[00:00:46]The frog is awake now. The clear trick goes away.

[00:00:51]The red color flows back.

[00:00:54]It jumps.

[00:00:55]It breathes.

[00:00:57]It is a normal frog once more.

[00:01:00]So, where does the red go to hide?

[00:01:03]Science has an answer. The red cells leave the veins.

[00:01:08]89% of them just pack into one small organ.

[00:01:12]It is the liver.

[00:01:15]The liver expands by 40% to hold the cells.

[00:01:19]The rest of the body turns clear like clean water.

[00:01:23]Light goes straight through the muscles.

[00:01:25]No shadow falls on the leaf below.

[00:01:29]The frog vanishes.

[00:01:32]But why can we not see the dark liver?

[00:01:35]The liver has a shield. It is covered in glass crystals.

[00:01:40]They reflect light like a mirror.

[00:01:44]The mirror bounces the green color of the leaf.

[00:01:47]The liver blends into the background.

[00:01:51]The night gets darker.

[00:01:53]The jungle wakes up.

[00:01:55]The frog stirs.

[00:01:57]How does the blood start to move again?

[00:02:01]The frog opens its eyes.

[00:02:03]The liver opens its gates.

[00:02:05]The red cells rush out into the body in just a few minutes.

[00:02:09]The skin loses its clear trick.

[00:02:12]It turns back to a normal frog.

[00:02:15]The body needs oxygen to jump and call.

[00:02:19]The heart pumps fast now.

[00:02:22]The liquid thickens.

[00:02:24]The body is ready to find a mate and catch insects.

[00:02:27]It hops onto a branch. It looks for insects in the dark.

[00:02:32]What happens if another frog sleeps?

[00:02:35]Other frogs do not have this trick.

[00:02:37]Their red cells move all the time.

[00:02:40]Their livers stay the exact same size.

[00:02:44]They stay dark [music] and solid.

[00:02:46]If they sleep on a leaf, a snake will see them fast.

[00:02:51]The glass frog is safe for now.

[00:02:54]It grips the wet leaf tight.

[00:02:56]Is this trick safe for the frog?

[00:02:59]For humans, this is a nightmare.

[00:03:02]If our red cells pack together like that, the blood stops.

[00:03:06]It turns into a solid clot.

[00:03:09]A clot stops the heart. But the glass frog does not care.

[00:03:14]Its blood flows perfectly.

[00:03:18]Why do scientists [music] look at this tiny frog?

[00:03:21]They use lasers to count the cells.

[00:03:23]They want to know the secret. The secret of how to pack blood and keep it safe.

[00:03:29]If we learn this trick, we can fix human hearts.

[00:03:32]We can stop bad clots in blood vessels.

[00:03:35]Stroke patients might walk again.

[00:03:38]People with weak veins could live longer.

[00:03:41]A frog can teach us.

[00:03:43]A tiny creature in the forest might save lives in a hospital.

[00:03:48]The night is short. The The turns gray.

[00:03:52]The morning [music] comes.

[00:03:54]The frog returns to its favorite leaf.

[00:03:57]It closes its eyes.

[00:03:59]The heart slows down to rest.

[00:04:02]The red fluid retreats into the mirror.

[00:04:05]The green light wins again.

[00:04:07]The outline blends into the wet leaf.

[00:04:11]No bird can see it. No snake can track it.

[00:04:15]It is just [music] dew.

[00:04:17]The clock tick stops for the hunter.

[00:04:20]The frog becomes water.

[00:04:23]We spend [music] billions to stop blood clots.

[00:04:26]This frog does it every morning.

[00:04:28]In a body lighter than a coin.

[00:04:31]Nature speaks.

[00:04:33]We translate.