Frog or Toad?

"A man can make a running jump of not more than four times his length, while any two-inch frog worth his salt thinks nothing of a jump of twenty times his length," Our Friend, the Frog, Doris M. Cochran,  National Geographic Magazine, May, 1932, p. 645.  This is but one of many amazing qualities of those amphibian animals we call frogs and toads.

*Only the males can sing.  "The inflated vocal pouch of the calling male extends in the front of the head," (photo caption, p. 649).

*Their long, sticky tongues are attached to the lower front of their jaws for maximum length in snaring flying insects.  One species has no tongue but has claws on its feet.

*You can distinguish terrestrial/land/tree climbing frogs from aquatic frogs by the appearance of their feet.  The land-dwellers have round knobs on their feet for better attachment while the aquatics have webbed feet for more efficient swimming in the shallow ponds they prefer to inhabit.

*Females lay a large quantity of eggs, as many as 240.  Only one in a hundred usually survives the metamorphosis from tadpole to adult.  Enemies of the newly hatched eggs are fish, turtles, and crayfish.

*Frogs secrete a slimy substance on their backs to make most of them inedible.  Some are poisonous.

*Frogs hibernate in the winter in the mud; they do not breathe.  In tropical countries they don't hibernate.

*"The insect-eating habits of the tailless amphibians are of great economic value to man.  Toads especially take enough food to fill the stomach four times completely in twenty-four hours," (p. 645).

*A wide-spread habit in the southern United States, especially in small towns or rural areas is "frog gigging."  Done in the darkness of night using a flashlight, frogs are poked or captured live with a loop or nail at the end of a long stick and put into sacks.  The Bullfrog is large enough to be eaten.  (This is generally a 'guy' thing!)

*"The nutritive value of frogs' legs compares favorably with that of chicken and fish," (p. 648).

*Some frogs have teeth and will bite if disturbed.

*Frogs make good pets.  They need an environment that is always moist.  Frogs are toads and toads are frogs.

*There is no truth in the belief that touching frogs cause warts on your hands.  The author attested to this.

Ms. Cochran obviously greatly appreciates these interesting creatures.  The eight-page section of color drawings were lovely, if you like frogs.  "I have not spoken of the real beauty of some species of frogs.  Their slender, graceful proportions, their waxlike, nearly translucent skin, glowing with the soft, rich tones of old pottery; their brilliant expectant eyes, with irises of gold and iridesant colors - these are sufficient to make an esthetic appeal to anyone who is sensitive to beauty in all its forms," (p. 649).