ON THE WILD SIDE Amphibians.. warts and all
Frogs and toads have spent winter hibernating under rotting logs, at the bottom of ponds or in holes.
In mild winters they pop out every now and then for a snack. They survive cold weather “breathing” through their skin.
In early spring, many toads are crushed to death while mating in huge numbers. What a way to go.
Frogs are green and brown, but in the breeding season the males have bright white throats with a blue tint. Females can be red or pink. Their eggs are jelly-like spawn. Frogs lay one clump of around 2,000 eggs in shallow water. Toads drop theirs in much deeper water and lay one huge string, up to 15ft long, with up to 6,000 eggs inside.
These hatch around a month after being laid. Frogs offer a protein-packed meal to any animal, but toads have toxic skin and few creatures are brave enough to try to eat them.
Toads will eat anything moving that they can fit in their mouths, even other toads. When threatened, they are known to stand tall and puff up like balloons to scare off predators.
It used to be believed that eating a live frog, especially a yellow one, would cure whooping cough.
Making a toad angry enough to sweat toxin and rubbing it on the affected area was believed to cure anything from aches and pains to breast cancer. Medieval doctors weren’t the only ones to keep toads. A toad in someone’s home was a good indicator that they were a witch.
My favourite legends are of “toadstones” and “wheatear eggs”. It was believed toads grew tiny precious stones inside their heads. In reality they were the fossilised teeth of an ancient fish.
Truth is stranger than fiction! It was also believed that eggs laid by the wheatear bird would hatch into tiny toads and that was where they came from. Complete madness. WHAT’S the difference between frogs and toads? Biologically there isn’t a difference, but we tend to group them based on their habits. Frogs prefer water, have smooth skin and long legs. Our toads are ugly, warty, crawl around and like to live in drier places. Now they are breeding, it is a good time to spot both. WHAT do you call a bear with a missing ear?
A b. KLEPTOMANIACS don’t get puns… because they take things, literally! MY brother lost his job at the orange juice factory… he just couldn’t concentrate. I ORDERED a pizza and the guy asked if I wanted it cut into six or 12 slices.
I said six – I couldn’t manage 12.