🐾 Frog

Frog

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Order Anura
• Family & relatives: The order Anura, which includes frogs and toads; broader amphibian relatives are salamanders and caecilians.
• How to spot it: Look for bulging eyes, long folded hind legs, smooth moist skin, and no tail in adults.

Its body & abilities

• Size: Ranges from under 1 cm in the tiniest species to about 30 cm in the goliath frog.
• Weight: From under a gram to over 3 kg in the goliath frog.
• Body & adaptations: Powerful back legs launch huge jumps, and their thin skin can breathe by absorbing oxygen from water and air.
• Top speed: Some frogs leap over 2 m, more than 20 times their body length, in a single jump.
• Strength: Their jumping muscles release stored energy like a spring for explosive leaps.
• Senses: Large eyes give wide vision, and they hear through eardrums on the sides of the head.
• Growing up: Most hatch as tadpoles that breathe with gills, then grow legs and lungs to become land-going adults.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Wetlands, ponds, rainforests, and streams; a few live in deserts or trees.
• Where in the world: Found on every continent except Antarctica.
• Territory: Many males defend small calling territories around water during breeding.

What it eats

• Diet: Mostly carnivores as adults; tadpoles are often plant-eaters, and they absorb water through the skin.
• Favorite foods: Insects, spiders, worms, and other small animals; big species eat mice or other frogs.
• How it hunts: Sit-and-wait ambush hunters that flick out a sticky tongue to snatch passing prey.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Hop and leap on land, swim with webbed feet, and some glide or climb.
• When it is active: Many are active at night (nocturnal), especially in warm, damp weather.
• Family life: Generally solitary but gather in large numbers to breed; a group is called an army or chorus.
• How it talks: Males croak and call, often inflating a throat sac, to attract mates and warn rivals.
• Babies: Most lay clusters of jelly-coated eggs in water, sometimes hundreds or thousands, and usually leave them to develop alone.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: Vital in food webs as both predator of insects and prey for birds, snakes, and fish.
• Conservation: Varies by species; many are threatened, and the order overall faces a serious global decline.
• Dangers: Threatened by habitat loss, pollution, climate change, and the deadly chytrid fungus.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Often 4-15 years in the wild depending on species.
• In our culture: Appear in fairy tales like the Frog Prince and are symbols of luck, rain, and transformation.
• Where to see it: Found near ponds and wetlands worldwide, and displayed in zoos and rainforest exhibits.
• Fun fact: Some frogs can freeze nearly solid in winter and thaw back to life in spring.