ABSTRACT
Among the animals endowed with a specific position in the history of the human self and of the relationship to nature, the frog needs to be discovered. In comparison to other animals with symbolic significance such as the lion or the eagle, the frog is an insignificant little creature. Certainly, it has gained a new prominence in recent decades as a public symbol, a heraldic emblem of the green movement. Taking the long history of frog imagery into consideration, it is surprising that the frog was chosen as one of the icons of a movement that supports a change of attitude towards nature. Its public image has completely changed from its earlier association with evil and the uncanny to become an object of love and identification. After hundreds of years as a popular symbol of fertility including sometimes terrifying implications, it has now come to signify fragility and serves as a reminder that nature's future is threatened. At a time when the body may disappear into virtual reality, the frog has come to symbolize resistance with its vulnerable body representing the weak and helpless, the victims of technological progress. It has become a medium for preserving the concreteness of a tangible nature and it is a signifier in a public program that aims to rediscover the body's indispensability for any definition of life.
