IS IT A FROG OR A TOAD?

FROGS have moist skin, varying in colour from brown with darker blobs, to yellowish with reddish blotches (Beebee 1987). There is an irridescent quality to their skin. All frogs have a distinct dark patch behind the eye, within which is its ears, – you can see in this photo.  Males have a white throat (Sztatecsny et al., 2010).  Frogs hop and leap away when frightened. When they are mating they make a sort of purring noise (at least mine do) rather than a croak.

Toads have warty skins with a brown-grey background colour (Beebee 1987). The photo on the right looks brighter than most toads, because it was taken with flash in a white bucket!  Toads crawl slowly away so are easier to photograph! They have beautiful golden eyes (Mattison, 2011), which you can see in the photo below. When they are mating they make little yelping noises (at least my local ones do). These are nothing like the frog mating calls.

 

 

The photo here on the left shows the difference in eyes – golden eyes on the toad left – and also the difference in the white throat of the frog right.

 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FROG SPAWN AND TOAD SPAWN?

FROG SPAWN

 Frog spawn is laid in clumps like the photo on the left.

 TOAD SPAWN

Toad spawn is laid in strings like the photo on the right.

Tadpoles are different too. Toad tadpoles are black. Frog tadpoles are dark with small  flecks of gold (Beebee 1987)

REFERENCES

Beebee, T., (1987),  Frogs and Toads, Stowmarket, UK, Whittet books.

Mattison, c.,(2011), Frogs and Toads, London, UK, Natural History Museum.

Sztatecsny, M.,  Strondl, C., Baierl, A., Ries, C. & Hodl, W.,(2010), ‘Chin up: are the bright throats of male common frogs a condition-independent visual cue?’ Animal Behaviour, 79, 779–786