AdoptAPond

Click Here
to Support Toronto Zoo Amphibian Conservation Projects

You will be
re-directed to
our secure area.

OODLES OF FUN FROG FACTS

Most frogs have teeth on their upper jaw and on the roof of their mouth. These teeth are used to hold their prey in place so they can swallow it.
Frogs have very special skin. They drink and breathe through it. Most frogs absorb all of their water through their skin. Many have a special "drink" patch on the belly.
Wood frogs, which can be found as far north as the Arctic Circle, can freeze almost solid. This frog uses glucose in its blood as a kind of antifreeze that concentrates in its vital organs, protecting them from damage while the rest of the body freezes.
Frogs are found on every continent but Antarctica.
Frogs can launch themselves over 20 times their own length using their big strong legs. That would be like a human jumping 100 feet!
Some frogs live in deserts. The Australian water-holding frog is a desert dweller that can wait up to seven years for rain.
The earliest known frog appeared during the late Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago! Some scientists believe that the oldest frogs developed jumping legs to avoid being eaten by dinosaurs.
The biggest frog is the goliath frog from the Cameroons. They can be nearly a foot long (30 cm) and weigh as much as a large housecat.
Because they are so sensitive to environmental changes, frogs represent an ecological early warning system.
Some frogs mate in tree branches and produce foamy masses of eggs which hang over water. When the tadpoles are formed they drop into the water.
Some frogs have developed stripes that appear to split them in two! The stripe confuses predators from above by breaking up the outlines of their shape.
Some tadpoles interact and school like fish.
The male Darwin's frog broods eggs in his vocal pouch. When the froglets are developed, they jump out.
Frogs shed their skin regularly to keep it healthy. Some frogs shed their skin weekly!
The Egyptian Frog-headed goddess Hekt was the goddess of birth and fertility, and later also of resurrection.
Throughout history, there have been tales of raining frogs. This can actually happen when a wind storm passes over a lake or pond teeming with frogs, picks them up and dumps them elsewhere.
A group of frogs is called an "army" of frogs.
There are over 6,000 species of frogs worldwide, but scientists continue to find new ones every year. Since 1985, the total number of recognized amphibian species has increased by nearly 35%!
The midwife toad places her eggs on her back where they embed and are protected until hatching by a new layer of the mother's skin that grows over them.
The common American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is the largest American frog and can catch and eat young birds and fish.
Some frogs blend with their backgrounds, while others even change colors to match the backgrounds! Some frogs can adjust their color according to changes in light, moisture, temperature, or even mood! Some species have bright colours on their underparts or legs that flash when the frog moves, presumably confusing enemies.
Adult gold frogs measure only 9.8 millimetres in body length (with legs drawn in). That's about one centimetre or about 3/8 of an inch!
The male hairy frog of West Africa (Trichobatrachus robustus) is covered in hair for some strange reason. It may be for recognition or camouflage.
The Borneo flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus) can glide from tree to tree with limbs and webbed toes outspread to act as air brakes and rudimentary wings.
Some frogs lay only a few eggs; others lay as many as 30,000 at a time.
Some frogs do not go through a larval phase; these frogs lay eggs, usually in damp places out of water, which hatch directly into froglets.
Some Frogs smell of onion, and the firebellied-toad smells of garlic.
Bullfrogs can live 30 years! African clawed frogs can live 15 years.
Tropical regions have the greatest variety of species ranging from forms which have totally adapted to living in trees (even the eggs and tadpoles are laid and develop in rainwater caught by leaves), to the world of jumping and burrowing frogs.
The male blue-spined glass frog Centrolene prosoblepon of Costa rica uses bony hooks in his armpits as weapons in territorial fights. The skin on the bellies of glass or "ghost" frogs can be so transluscent that the internal organs are visible.
Only six species of frog occur in Europe.
Frogs usually have smooth, moist skin and spend most of their lives in or near water. Toads usually have dry, warty-looking skin and spend more time living on land.
It's the Goliath frog and lives in Cameroon in western Africa. These frogs have bodies that are nearly a foot long and legs that are even longer than that!
Bullfrogs may remain at the tadpole stage for up to 2 years. A longer tadpole stage means a larger frog after metamorphosis which usually means a better chance of survival.
A clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) is found in south and east Africa. This frog spends most of its life in the water and uses its clawed toes to stir up the mud at the bottom of ponds when searching for food.
Bullfrogs close their nostrils and continue to breathe through their skin while under water.
Adult frogs breathe with lungs, but also absorb oxygen through their skin.
The frog was an ancient Egyptian symbol, later adopted by the conquering Romans. The Egyptian Frog-headed goddess Hekt was the goddess of birth and fertility, and later also of resurrection.
Legends from China and India say the world rests on the back of a giant three-legged frog. If the frog moves, it causes an earthquake.

Turtle Island Conservation