FROGS AND TOADS STORY

Welcome to the ninth episode in the Wolf Ridge Adventures in Learning series! Today Wolf Ridge Naturalists Robby and Caroline are exploring the wet and muddy world of frogs and toads!

Amphibians are a class of animal that includes frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders. Minnesota is home to 50 species of amphibians. The name amphibian means “two lives” and refers to the fact that they live both on land and in water during parts of their lives.

Frog and Toad Characteristics

This is a Grey Tree Frog. Tree Frogs are amazing because they have sticky pads on their toes that allow them to climb vertical surfaces. They can also change their color, which is why their latin name is Hyla versicolor.

Most people are familiar with some frog characteristics like strong, long legs, webbed feet, and long tongues. But what people often aren’t familiar with are the characteristics of frogs’ skin. Frogs’ skin is often green, grey, or brown to serve as camouflage. There are also frogs that have very bright skin. Many of them are poisonous - and their bright skin serves as a warning to predators - while some are not poisonous, but want predators to think they are.

Frog skin is also very thin and permeable (meaning things can get through it). Since frogs spend a large part of their lives in water, this permeable skin means they are very sensitive to changes in the water like pollution or bacteria.

Toads are also technically frogs! The broad category “frog” is divided into three groups: tree frogs, toads, and true frogs. Toads have some different characteristics than tree frogs and true frogs.

Instead of smooth skin toads have a very bumpy, dry skin. Toads also have much shorter legs than frogs and look more stout or sturdily built than frogs. Frogs also have teeth while toads do not. Frogs lay their eggs in large clumps and toads lay their eggs in long noodley strands.

wolf-ridge.org Metamorphosis All frogs go through a fascinating transformation as they mature called metamorphosis. After frogs mate, they lay a large cluster of jelly-like eggs.

After the eggs hatch, the baby frogs are called tadpoles. These tadpoles live fully in the water and breathe through their gills. They mainly eat dead and decaying plants from the bottom of the pond they live in.

As they age, they begin to change. Slowly they start growing back legs, then front legs and lungs. At this stage, they are called froglets and they look like tiny frogs, except they still have a tail!

The froglets can begin living on land now but they spend a lot of time in the water. As more time passes they begin to “lose” their tail and gills. Actually, they absorb both into their body. Once this is complete they are fully developed frogs and are considered land animals.

Nature Journaling Ponds that are home to frogs and toads provide great opportunities for nature journaling. You can’t always see the frogs, but you can definitely hear them! One cool way to explore the many sounds you hear in a frog pond is to make a sound map. Check out this week’s lesson to learn how to make a sound map.

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