Beautiful Color in Nature: Frogs and Toads

Despite being called 'poisonous,' only a few frogs carry enough poison to kill a human, and they wouldn't actively seek out a human. The poisons would only affect the human in contact with them if handled or eaten.

Frogs use a variety of ways to attract a mate such as courtship calls, body colour and limb movements.

Frogs can live equally well on land or water, despite popular belief that they live only in water, and toads only on land.

At last count there were over 5,000 species of frogs worldwide, but scientists continue to find new ones every year.

Amphibians must shed their skin as they enlarge in size. The old skin is discarded like a piece of clothing that has become too tight and is usually eaten.

The smallest frog may be a species of Cuban frog, in the genus Eleutherodactylus, which only grows to be less than 1/2 inch long.

Most frogs absorb all of their water through their skin. Many have a special patch on the belly for water retention.

The largest frog in the world is the Goliath Frog. Its body can grow up to a foot, and its legs grow at least that long.

The oldest frog fossil found was from the Age of Dinosaurs and frogs, as you may have noticed, have outlived the dinosaurs.

It actually can rain frogs when water from a pond containing frogs is sucked up by a wind storm like a tornado, and deposited elsewhere.

Toads are frogs. "Toad" is typically used to describe a member of the frog family Bufonidae. It is actually impossible to contract warts from a toad. Whether thickened skin or specialised glands, they are not contagious.

Tree frogs have developed disks or adhesive pads on the toes of their feet to help them climb into the tree canopy.

Frogs can lay anywhere between only a few eggs and 30,000 at one time. The difference is in response to the egg-laying environment, based on the amount of predators, the size of the mother, and climate.

Some frogs can survive in conditions well below freezing. The Grey Tree Frog, for example, can survive even though its heart stops. By making its own 'antifreeze,' its body will never freeze completely.

Like most of the animal or plant kingdoms, this frog's skin is an indicator of poison. Meant to serve as a history lesson, after one eats a blue frog and becoming sick, those observing will follow by not eating blue frogs.

The Colorado River Toad and the Cane Toad were once popular gateway drugs. When agitated, both secrete a hallucinogenic chemical through the skin. Licking that skin became incredibly popular, but the party practice could be fatal - some toads emit a cardiac toxin.

Frogs can be found almost anywhere except the Antartica. However, most species are found in tropical regions. More frogs are found in warmer countries.

Frogs can breathe by means of the lungs and also through their skin. This is because of the way their heart is formed. It has three chambers instead of the normal four

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