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FrogStop 6
00:00 / 03:36
We recommend focusing only on listening to the audio while using Taxidermy Talks in the museum. Feel free to explore the full site afterward
Transcript
You are about to listen to an imagined conversation between a dried frog mounted in the Spectrum of Life and a living frog in a generic pond--- enjoy.
Outside Frog: Is it peaceful sitting in a line like that with all those other creatures? If my habitat were that crowded, the noise would be unbearable.
Dried Frog: Surprisingly, it's completely quiet in here—except for the people. I hear their voices and squeaky shoes echoing through the hall, but only for part of the day. The rest of the time, it’s silent.
Outside Frog: Wait... you mean you have to stay up there all the time? You never move?
Dried Frog:Sometimes I want to. I get this sudden urge to fling myself off the wall, just to hear the people scream. But I can’t. I think my legs are stuck.
Outside Frog: That must leave a lot of time for thinking.
Dried Frog: Oh yes. I’m practically a philosopher now. Anything I can ponder for you?
Outside Frog: Actually, yes. I went swimming in my favorite pond the other day, but this time the water had a strange sheen. Ever since then, my skin has been burning.
Dried Frog: I’m sorry to hear that, friend. Maybe you'd prefer it up here—nothing hurts, and everything stays the same.
Outside Frog: And give up jumping and croaking? No thanks.
Dried Frog: Fair enough. I’ve got plenty of neighbors to keep me company—though sometimes I think whoever picked us was just grabbing at random. Anyway, if you’re staying out there in the pond, maybe I can help. Did you see anything unusual?
Outside Frog: There was a big plastic jug near the water’s edge. I couldn’t read all the words, but I think one of them said “Monsanto.”
Dried Frog: Monsanto… hmmmm, that sounds familiar. I remember someone mentioning them when I was being installed and mounted up here. I think they helped pay for this whole display.
Outside Frog:Why are you mounted up there? And why would someone who has their name on plastic jugs pay to do it?
Dried Frog: Didn’t you read the signs? This is the Hall of Biodiversity. It’s supposed to show people that Earth’s biodiversity is in danger, and that if they don’t change their ways, everything might disappear. But it's a little hard to communicate when your mouth is dried shut so people only get it if they read the signs and not many do that.
This whole hall is all meant to be about saving us—well, not me, obviously - a little late for that. I have no idea why someone who made your skin hurt would help fund it?
Outside Frog: Maybe they only want to help show all these lifeless species off to the humans, not actually protect the living ones.
Inside Diorama Frog: You just might be on to something…you've given me something to think about for at least a year. Just don’t go swimming in that pond again, or you could dry out and end up next to me.
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