Life Story Of A Toad

[Music] Toad's belong to a group of animals called amphibians frogs are also amphibians and so are salamanders when an animal is in amphibian it means that it can live on land or in water toads frogs and salamanders live entirely in water during the early or tadpole part of their lives later they spend all or part of their lives on land all amphibians have backbones animals with backbones are called vertebrates you are a vertebrate toads are nocturnal animals which means that they are more active at night than they are in the daytime after dark the insects and worms that toads eat are more plentiful toads are found in all temperate and tropical countries there are probably toads where you live if toads were more active in the daytime you would probably see them more often the common toad has a short broad body two to four inches in length it is a grayish white on its underside and reddish or yellowish brown above how quickly can you see the toad here unless it moves a toad is hard to see among the leaves in grass it's color helps to protect it from enemies a close look at the skin of the toad shows darker spots with bumps or warts in them people used to say that touching a toad would give you warts this is just a superstition the skin of the toad feels very much like your own a toads eyes are large and bulge out of its head this way it can sit still and see in all directions without moving its head why is this an advantage when a toad closes its eyes it pulls them into a cavity in its mouth blinking the eyes while eating helps a toad to push food down its throat this flat oval disk just behind the eye is the toads ear sound waves caused it to vibrate as they caused your own eardrum to vibrate and these small openings are the nostrils through which the animal breathes a toad has no claws or teeth to fight with instead an unpleasant tasting milky fluid in the skin helps discourage its enemies toads move by hopping in slow motion you can see that the back legs push the toads body into the air and that it lands several feet away have you ever tried to catch a toad was it easy Toad's live in woods like these they can also be found in the fields and in gardens in fact almost anywhere they can find a good supply of food codes like to eat flies beetles snails caterpillars earthworms and other small animals it is interesting to watch a toad hunting for food it crawls as close to an insect as it can without being detected you can see the toads mouth open and close the insect is gone what happened let's see this action in slow motion the toads tongue is covered with a sticky substance when the toad sees an insect the ton snaps out if the insect is touched it sticks fast and the tongue is pulled back into the mouth carrying the insect with it only male toads can make sounds the toad takes air into its mouth and pushes it back and forth over its vocal cords a musical trill is produced each time here is how male toad sound when they are trilling on an early spring evening in springtime male and female toads gather in great numbers around ponds marshes and ditches they paddle around in the water for a few days then a male toad grasps a female's swollen with eggs the pair swim about until the female lays its eggs several thousand eggs flow from the female's body in jelly like strings as the eggs come out the male fertilizes them with sperm from its body the jellies surrounding the eggs swells in the water until each egg is covered with a thick coating this acts as a float keeping the eggs near the surface of the water where it is warmer and where there is more oxygen each of these round black spots is an egg a tadpole will gradually begin to develop in each egg first the developing tadpole grows longer then the body and tail takes shape and the tadpole shows signs of life by small wriggling movements [Music] they do not have any legs and they breathe through gills as they grow they lose their gills and develop lungs legs grow out of their bodies first two hind legs and then two front legs with lungs and legs they are able to live on land now they climb out of the water where they lived as tadpoles they may never go back to water again except to lay their eggs the newly formed toad is tiny less than 1/2 inch long at first it stays near the water from which it recently emerged after a week or so the toads have grown considerably they may be found hopping all over lawns gardens and fields young toads hunt during the day but as they grow larger they do more and more of their hunting at night adult toads can usually be found hiding during the daytime in some dark damp place under logs or rocks if they don't stay hidden they may be hunted down by hawks owls snakes raccoons skunks and other larger animals as the autumn days become cooler toads begin to disappear here is a toad digging a hole for the winter months the hole may go several feet underground here the toad will hibernate all winter long then when spring rains and white Sun warm the earth again the toad will emerge from its winter home to start searching for food and for a place to deposit eggs from which a new generation of toads can develop [Music]