Falling polliwogs mystify Ishikawa

More than 100 dead polliwogs have fallen from the sky recently at two locations in Ishikawa Prefecture, puzzling local residents and animal experts alike.

Locals are speculating that the little critters were blown in by a tornado or were dropped by dissatisfied birds.

But experts say the likelihood of either theory is slim, only deepening the mystery.

The first incident took place at 4:30 p.m. June 4, when a 55-year-old employee at a community center in Nanao heard thuds hitting the ground.

Coming out of the center, he found about 100 dead tadpoles on a car windshield and on the ground. Two days later, another 20 to 30 tadpoles were found in Hakusan.

Adding to the mystery, about 10 small fish were found Thursday in front of a house in Noto. There is no river or pond nearby.

"A crow eats polliwogs. But if they had thrown them up, the polliwogs would have been spread wider on the ground," said a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Chiba Prefecture.

No tornado or gusty winds were observed in the area at the times of the reported tadpole flurries.