All About Frogs!

Frogs are slimy, cool, and really common animals that belong to a group called Amphibians, which means that they can live and breathe on both land and in water.

The word "Amphibian" comes from two Greek words: "Amphi", which means "both", and "bois", which means "life". Amphibians are cold-blooded animals. That means that their body temperature is the same as the surrounding temperature. Their skin absorbs water into their bodies so they do not have to drink water to survive, like mammals.

Other types of Amphibians are toads, caecillians, and salamanders, which I will be talking about in tomorrow's blog.

When you think of frogs, you probably picture them leaping, or hopping around in the grass, or near a pond. Since frog's protection mechanism is to jump away from approaching predators, their back legs have to be SUPER strong. Below is a funny picture of a frog leaping of of a flower.

The largest frog in the world is the Goliath Frog of West Central Africa. It can grow up to 1 foot long! Now that's a big frog! The largest frog in America is the common Bull Frog. You've probably heard a Bull Frog croaking loudly before.

A frog's diet mainly consists of small animals like, insects, minnows, and worms. Different kinds of frogs have different ways of protecting themselves from predators. Some tropical ones like the Poison Dart Frog or the Red-Eyed Tree Frog have poisonous glands in their skin, which is released if threatened.

Frogs are very important and also part of the Eco-system which means whatever happens to them will affect other animals and even humans in different ways. We are all connected in the web of life.