Amphibians

There are more than 6,000 species of amphibians on Earth, including frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts. One-third of amphibians are threatened with extinction. The word “amphibian” comes from Greek—double lives, amphibians spend at least part of their lives in water; some are entirely aquatic. Amphibians became the first vertebrates to live on land, and like their “cold-blooded” reptile relatives, depend on external energy sources (such as the sun) to maintain their body temperatures.  For most amphibians, life begins in the water—the young have gills and lack legs when they hatch from eggs laid in the water. They metamorphose, growing legs and changing in other ways to live on land.

Frogs and Toads
More than 75 percent of all toad and frog species in the world live in tropical rainforests. One way to tell a frog and a toad apart: frogs have smooth, clammy skin, while toads have more dry, bumpy skin. Both frogs and toads lay their eggs in water, but toads spend more of their time on land than do frogs.

Oriental fire-bellied Toad
Oriental fire-bellied toads are green with black-spotted warts and bright red bellies. The red coloring warns would-be predators that this toad’s skin is poisonous. The milky substance secreted by their skin irritates the mouth and eyes of attackers.

These toads are highly aquatic and spend the majority of their time in slow-moving streams and ponds. They hibernate in the winter, generally choosing rotting logs or leaf piles as their burrow from September to May.

Tadpoles eat algae, fungi, and plants only, but adult Oriental red-bellied toads also feast on invertebrates, particularly worms, insects, and mollusks.

Between April and August, Oriental fire-bellied toads will mate and the females will lay large clutches of eggs at a time. They deposit their eggs in the water, where they become attached to rocks or other objects.

Whites Tree Frog
Unlike other tree frogs, White’s tree frogs have horizontal pupils and a distinctive fatty ridge over their eyes. To help retain water and keep their skin moist, the frogs produce cacruleim—a milky secretion.

White’s tree frogs can be emerald green to light blue to gray with white underbellies. They frogs have large toe pads and at least partial webbing between their fingers and toes. Females tend to be larger than males.

In the wild, White’s tree frogs feast mainly on insects. They particularly enjoy moths, locusts, and cockroaches.

For reproduction, males deposit sperm clouds and then females expel their eggs with great force, pushing the eggs through the sperm cloud and into the water. A clutch can contain anywhere from 200 to 2,000 eggs.