Frogs and Toads

Frogs and toads are both amphibians and have similar body structures, making it difficult for the average person to tell the difference between the two.

Frogs and toads both start out their lives in water, and both return to water to lay their eggs. But, frogs live in or near water their entire lives, have smooth skin, and have webbed feet. Toads live the majority of their life span on land, have dry skin that looks warty, and have toes.

The other major difference between frogs and toads is in their body structure. Frogs have strong, long back legs for jumping. Toads have shorter hind legs for walking. Frogs have narrow bodies with bulging eyes and toads have broader, flattened bodies.

You can see all of these subtle differences in the picture above.

Frogs and toads can save the world if only we'd listen to what they have to say. Amphibians breathe through their skin. This makes them super vulnerable to pollutants and other environmental hazards, such as pesticides and chytrid, a deadly fungus. This means frogs and toads serve as a predictor of environmental impacts on the future of the rest of the animal kingdom.

Scientist are now very alarmed at the rate of which the current frog and toad population around the world is dwindling. The legendary golden frog of Panama has almost completely disappeared from the wild. Closer to home, the Houston Toad is close to extinction.

How wide spread is this problem? If no changes are made, we are currently in danger of losing half of our world's amphibian population. To put this in better perspective and to get the public's attention, Jeff Corwin, an Emmy-winning host of multiple wild life educational shows on the Animal Planet Channel, says "If this is allowed to continue, it will represent the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs."

Paul Crump, a reptile and amphibian keeper at the Houston Zoo is very alarmed by the dwindling Houston Toad population. He warns, "It's not just amphibians that are crashing. We're all crashing. Birds. Fish. Mammals. But the amphibians are the first to go. They serve as a smack in the face for us."

It's time that we all start listening to my the world's frog and toad population has to say to us.