For the Love of Frogs

by Yolanda Ridge

For the Love of Frogs

 

This week, I finally visited what people in my town affectionately (and not-so-creatively) refer to as “the frog pond.” Being at home during the pandemic, I’ve sort of lost track of time. Maybe that’s why I expected the tadpoles to be bigger. Or maybe that’s why I was surprised—like I always am—to see so many of them huddled together, totally unconcerned about “social distancing.”

Over the next month, my sons and I will visit the pond regularly to see them grow. There’s nothing quite like watching a pond swarming with small, simple creatures transform into a community of frogs. Perhaps I will be lucky enough to have good photos to share in my next post. In the meantime, here are ten cool facts about frogs:

1. There are over 5000 different species of frogs, including the “flying frog” that leaps from tree to tree with help from the webbing between their toes.

2. Frogs come in many different colours, even black and white.

3. A frog sheds its skin about once a week. Instead of letting the dead skin go to waste, they eat it.

4. Many frogs can jump over 20 times their height. If a human could do that, they’d be able to leap-frog over a 100-foot building!

5. Rumour has it that some frogs, including African Bullfrogs and Horned Frogs have really smelly farts.

6. Some frogs are as small as 7.7 mm (the size of a dime). Others, like the appropriately named “goliath frog” are as big as 32 cm (the length a school binder).

7. Frogs don’t drink water like we do, they absorb it through their skin.

8. Frogs eat with their eyes. Really. In order to swallow their food, they blink to push their eyeballs down on top of it.

9. The most poisonous animal on earth is the “poison dart frog” The Golden Poison Dart Frog can have enough toxin in its body to kill a human.

10. Pollution and climate change are a huge threat to frogs. They’re considered an “indicator species” because their health tells scientists a lot about the health of the planet.

BONUS FACT: A person who studies frogs is called a herpetologist (which sounds a lot like “burp”-a-tologist to me).

Is there a frog pond near your house? Or a small bit of water with a frog living in it? Now that summer’s finally here, I hope you get a chance to check it out!

Yolanda Ridge is a middle grade author and science writer from Rossland, BC. Visit her website at www.yolandaridge.com to find out more.

Photo credits:

Tadpoles by Yolanda Ridge

Milk Frog by Da Vinci Science Center @Flickr

Poison Dart Frog by Da Vinci Science Center @Flickr