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Biology

 

         Frog or toad? The distinction between the two is flimsy at best. Toads are a type of frog, being both amphibians with closely related family trees, but not every frog is considered a toad! The main differences come down to their body characteristics, or "morphology". Frogs have semi-permeable skin that they breathe through, and they need to be kept moist to stay healthy. They have long legs and prefer to leap great distances in order to get around. Toads have lumpier skin, can become dry without issue, and make shorter hops. Toads are also usually bulkier, with deeper croaks! But there are exceptions to every rule, and deciding what we call a toad versus a frog is fairly subjective!

Image by Erzsébet Vehofsics

Frogs and toads are found all over the world, but don't often survive well in colder environments! They're most commonly found in tropic and sub-tropic regions, where there's a lot of ambient humidity and water for them to swim in. As semi-amphibious animals, they do need a source of water to lay their eggs in! Their first stages of life are spent as tadpoles, which don't have any limbs at all. As they grow, they metamorphose into their adult frog bodies, which are then able to leave the water in search of prey!

Baby tadpoles release chemicals into the water letting their siblings know when to hatch. This increases the odds that any one individual will survive. As they grow, they disperse from their home ponds quickly, as almost frog species will cannibalize frogs that are smaller than them!

This website was created as part of the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture ENHANCEMENT Grant (2020-38422-32257)

CREATED BY

Cyrillus Sidhe - Jenavey Ivey - Mariangel Varela

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