What are frogs?
Frogs are amphibians, meaning they can live on land and in water. They have striking characteristics, like protruding eyes and webbed feet, and their skin is smooth and moist. Most of them live in water, but some frog species live in trees or burrow into the ground.
Frogs have solid back legs designed to help them leap and swim. A frog’s diet also varies depending on its species. Some eat insects and other worms, while others prey on other frogs, small rodents, and reptiles.
Frogs have a fascinating life cycle. First, female frogs lay fertilized eggs, which then hatch into frogspawn. Then, between 6 and 21 days later, the frogspawn hatches into tadpoles. Tadpoles have no limbs, only tails to help them swim. It takes about 6 to 9 weeks for tadpoles to grow fully, though this varies between species. During this time, they swim, eat, and grow.
After about 12 weeks, the tadpole grows its legs and arms. Its body gets longer, and its head gets more extensive. It starts to be able to breathe underwater too. At this point, it also still has a tail.
Adult frogs lose their tails. It takes between 12 and 16 weeks for the frog to go from egg to full-grown adult.
Are frogs reptiles?
No. A reptile is not the same as an amphibian, which frogs are. Frogs may have similarities to snakes, such as their stretchy, hairless skin, but they have very different needs. A frog is classed as an amphibian and not a reptile because it needs a habitat with plenty of water, unlike reptiles living in arid conditions.
Top 15 Frog Facts for Kids:
- Frogs have ears. Male frogs have more prominent ears than females because they are just behind their eyes.
- Frogs ‘drink’ through their skin.
- Frogs are cold-blooded – they hibernate in winter.
- There isn’t a biological difference between frogs and toads. However, toads are very warty frogs.
- There are around 7,300 species of frog.
- Over a third of frog species are considered endangered.
- Frogs are an incredibly ancient species. Recent evidence suggests that the species is over 265 million years old and originates from the Permian period. There are fossils of complete frogs, too, which show that – physically – they haven’t changed much in this time!
- Some adult frogs are poisonous, but their primary form of defense from predators is camouflage.
- Flying frogs can glide for 12 to 15 meters and have highly effective webbed feet.
- Female frogs can lay thousands of eggs at a time.
- Frogs have powerful leg muscles! It makes them excellent jumpers. Some bullfrogs, which average 18 cm long, can leap over 2 meters – that’s ten times their length!
- The giant frog in the world is the goliath frog which is 30 cm long!
- Frogs produce mucus from their skin to stay moist when they’re above the water. It helps them to breathe through their skin too.
- Frogs are known as environmental bellwethers (or indicators). Because they are so sensitive to environmental changes, they are the first to be affected and warn other species (including us) of ecological problems.
- Research suggests frogs have adapted to inhabit everywhere, from subarctic regions to the humid heat of tropical rainforests.
More Froggy Facts
There are over 7,300 species of frogs. They make up most of the amphibian population on the planet! They’re tailless, webbed-footed short-bodied animals that live both in water and on land. Because of the conditions they need to survive, habitats close to water or wetlands are ideal for frogs.
Where do frogs live?
There are many kinds of frogs, and frog habitats range from burrows underground to the tops of tropical trees and swampy lakes.
The only places they struggle to live in are freezing environments in the polar regions – although some frogs do live in the Arctic Circle. They don’t inhabit some of the world’s islands either because the salty sea water would dehydrate them, and frogspawn can’t survive in salt water. However, they can live in deserts and montane forests above 4,500 meters.
How to Create Your Frog Habitat
- Make sure they have access to water – a small, clean pond with plants growing in and around it is excellent. If you don’t have a pond, leave lots of leaf litter, stones, and logs around one area of your garden. Tall plants and grasses will help frogs camouflage and stay calm. Frogs love roaming; your garden could become a holiday retreat for your local frogs.
Garden ponds are helping to make up for a massive loss of wetlands and ponds in places like the UK.
Ensure your pond has gently sloping sides or rocks leading out of the bond so frogs can move quickly between land and water.
- Ensure there are lots of twigs, branches, rocks, and leaves for the frog to camouflage against. Overturned garden pots are also welcome additions!
- A shady or semi-shady spot is preferred, as this can help mosses and other small native plants to grow. The more plants around, the more insects for frogs to eat – so more frogs!
How do frogs protect themselves?
Many frogs rely on camouflage to prevent predators from spotting them. Species like the common frog live in grassy, muddy banks around ponds and lakes across Europe and Asia. They are often sprinkled with brown and green-brown splodges, which helps them to hide under grasses, mud, and leaves.
What are some characteristics of frogs?
- Frog tongues are super soft but made of powerful muscles. Frogs can snap up their prey five times faster than you can blink. Their softness means they can wrap tightly around their prey.
- As the frog targets a prey animal, they open its jaw, and the extender muscle propels the tongue outwards at a rate of 4 meters per second! Then, the retractor muscle works like a bungee, bringing the tongue back into the frog’s mouth with its tasty food.
- To swallow, frogs suck in their eyes. It helps push food down their throats!
- The real secret is in their super-sticky spit. Frog saliva is a special kind of substance known as a non-Newtonian fluid. It means it can behave both as a liquid and a solid. So as the frog pulls their prey in with their tongue, the saliva hardens, ensuring its prey can’t escape.
Do frogs have teeth?
Some frogs do have teeth, but not all. Again, it depends on the species of frog. Most common species have tiny frog teeth on their upper jaw, usually less than a millimeter long.
One frog, the Gastrotheca guentheri, is the only frog out of more than 7,000 species to have ‘true teeth’ in its upper and lower jaws!
Are frogs endangered?
Some frogs are listed as endangered due to habitat loss and disturbance. It means that their species is at risk of dying out.
Many poison frog species are endangered due to deforestation and climate change affecting their rainforest home and the broader environment. One of the biggest threats facing frogs is fungus. It only affects frogs, but it’s spread worldwide – causing some frogs to become endangered and even extinct.
What is the difference between a frog and a toad?
All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. Toad is just the common name for certain types of frogs. People usually use the name toad to describe frogs that have:
- drier, leathery skin;
- short, stocky legs;
- large bumps over glands on their back. These specialized glands release a substance to ward off predators!
How do tadpoles turn into frogs?
Some animals transform as they grow over time. This process of change – from egg to adult – is called metamorphosis. For example, amphibians and insects go through metamorphosis.
For some frogs, transforming from a tadpole into the adult frog form takes two months – for others, this process takes three years!
During their metamorphosis, their tail is reabsorbed into their body. As a result, their mouth becomes wider; their legs and arms spring out from their bodies. Amazingly, they develop lungs necessary for their life on land.
Fascinating Frogs
- Flying frogs have extra webbing between their fingers and toes. They leap from trees – expanding their webbing – and can glide up to 15 meters.
- Suriname toads- female Suriname toads – have particular skin on their backs, like bubble wrap. They protect their young by carrying their eggs – and tadpoles – on their backs in tiny bubble backpacks. It means the baby frogs hatch out of their mother’s backs!
- Sedge frogs live in trees. The African climbing frog, for example, has super-sticky toe disks which stick to the bark of trees.
- Glass frogs are a family of frogs with near-transparent (see-through) skin on their bellies for which they’re named. It means you can see glass frogs’ intestines, hearts, and livers! They are found in the trees of Central and South American coastal forests.
- Poison frogs are tiny rainforest dwellers. They are brightly colored (often with unique patterns) to warn predators of their toxicity.
- Wood frogs are a species of frog that can withstand a yearly freeze! In addition, they can withstand being frozen throughout winter. It is because their blood contains a kind of ‘antifreeze’ like liquid that helps them thaw when it’s springtime.
A Closer Look: Red-Eyed Tree Frogs
Red-eyed tree frogs are found in the tropical lowlands of Central and South America. They are nocturnal carnivores: they sleep underneath leaves during the day and hunt insects by night.
They are famous worldwide for their bright green color and startling red eyes. Their big eyes are covered by three eyelids which camouflage their eyes while they sleep, making them look like leaves. They flash shades of blue when they’re disturbed.
Red-eyed tree frogs are ambush predators. They use the cover of their leafy, shadowy habitat to hide in wait for unsuspecting insects – before catching them with their impressive long, sticky tongue.
Red-eyed tree frogs are a fantastic indicator species: researchers will use the number of red-eyed tree frogs in a rainforest section to see how healthy the ecosystem is.
A Closer Look: Poison Dart Frogs
Like tiny jewels hopping around the forest floor, poison frogs are some of the most brightly colored animals on Earth.
They live in wet, tropical forests in Central and South America. Some aren’t very poisonous; most are no bigger than a paper clip – and the enormous poison frogs are only about two inches long. Each species makes unique calls to communicate with one another in the vast forests in which these tiny creatures live. There are over 200 species of small, colorful poison frogs.
This family of frogs may be commonly known as poison dart frogs, but there are only around three species whose poison was and is used by indigenous people of the Americas to lace their arrow tips before hunting. This reported list includes the golden poison frog, the most toxic of all frogs.
Many poison dart frogs carry their eggs and tadpoles on their backs, protecting them and keeping them safe from predators. Males are particularly doting caregivers. Male poison frogs take on much of the parenting duties during this vulnerable stage in the life cycle of a frog. Females will often lay unfertilized eggs for their tadpoles to eat.
Quick Golden Poison Frog Facts
- Golden poison frogs are small but mighty. Although averaging an inch and a half in length, a single adult frog has enough venom to kill around ten adult human men – in theory.
- They aren’t a threat to any mammals: they enjoy a diet of main ants but are not fussy: they will eat crickets, beetles, and termites. Adults can eat insects much more significantly than their size.
- Research suggests that their poison comes from their diet because they can accumulate certain chemicals in their bodies that are turned into lethal poison.
- It’s rare to stumble upon them. Instead, they are found only within a small patch of rainforest in Colombia, near the Pacific coast.
