Once Upon a Time …

text and photo : Norma A. Hubbard  (October 2014)

In the original Grimm’s fairy tale entitled The Frog King (not Prince), the poor frog is not kissed by a princess, but is actually thrown against a wall by her before he turns into a prince. Somewhere along the way, the story changed (most likely by Disney), so that today most of us are familiar with the expression, one has to a kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince – and that being said, this was the summer to find a prince because there were a lot of frogs. It seems every time I worked in the garden or took a walk along our trails, there were frogs.

There are well over 4,000 species of amphibians in the world, but Quebec has only 37 varieties and among them there are just a few that are commonly seen. Our summer evenings are filled with a chorus of frog calls. Among most frog species it is the male who croaks, trying to establish territory and attract a female. Toads are frogs, which can be confusing. There are three families of frogs in our area: Tree Frogs (Family Hylidae); True Frogs (Family Ranidae); and True Toads (Family Bufonidae). Frogs (including toads) are ectotherms (cold-blooded), so their body temperature correlates to their environment. Frogs hibernate during the winter, and come spring all frogs and toads need water for breeding. The life cycle has two stages, a larval form (tadpole) which grows into the adult form (frog) within several weeks. Depending upon the species, frogs can lay between 200 to 2000 eggs.

Widespread in our area is the Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica). These tree frogs, which are also considered true frogs, are reddish brown, dark brown, or tan with a distinctive dark mask. They have prominent ridges along their backs, known as dorsolateral ridges. The belly is white, but may have some spotting. Wood frogs can grow to up to 8 cm. Since these frogs can hibernate under logs or leaves, they are one of the first frogs to appear in the spring, often while there is still ice on ponds. Wood frogs are able to change their skin colour and will go darker in colder weather to absorb more heat.

American Toads (Bufo americanus) are true toads, but are technically tree frogs, too. Unlike true frogs that jump, toads may hop a bit, but generally they are walkers. Also, true frogs are leaner than these fat toads. American toads can grow to 11 cm. American toads have warty, brown, reddish, or olive skin. It is their warts-like skin which caused the myth that warts come from toads. Nonetheless, it is best not to handle them too much because if they sense danger, they can excrete poisonous liquid from their parotid glands. This is how they protect themselves from predators. Even if your dog were to ‘taste’ a toad, most dogs will not eat them and not be harmed. Toads inhabit dense forests to mowed lawns. They do not remain in ponds after maturing into toads and are often found in our gardens where they should be considered welcomed visitors as they not only eat bugs, they also eat slugs. Toads hibernate in the soil below the frost line.

These are just two of the frogs that can be found in our area, and while some people still might think of frogs as just some evil ingredient to throw into a witch’s brew, they are part of our ecosystem and our nights would be too quiet without them.

Source: Frog Watch www.naturewatch.ca/english/frogwatch