|
|
||
Frogs and toads in the Fredericksburg area just want to eat, sing and pass along their genes Could you mistake the call of a Fowler's toad for a human scream? Click here to listen. (Credit: Lang Elliott, NatureSound)
Alternative content Date published: 8/11/2008
The toad saw trouble and froze.
Two people had walked right up on it as it perched on a log, and they were getting awfully close. Its response was to sit absolutely still on its log, its colors blending with the surroundings. One of the people clicked a camera beside the toad, then got out a portable flash and lighted it from different angles. A few moments of that was enough. With a series of small, fast hops, it vanished from the log and lost itself among the vines and dead leaves of the sandy bank near Motts Run Reservoir one day this summer. Later, knowledgeable people identified it from the photos as a Fowler's toad. While it was a thrill for the two people to get such an up-close look at the toad, it's really not that uncommon to see one, even in the middle of the a scalding summer afternoon. Fowler's toads are found throughout Virginia, and while some behaviorists say they don't often show themselves in daylight, this one clearly hadn't gotten the word. Fowler's toads are among 27 species of frogs and toads found in Virginia, 15 of which are known to inhabit Fredericksburg and nearby counties. From late winter through fall, ponds and woods in our area vibrate with frog and toad music--the mournful basso of a bullfrog, the staccato gulping of a green frog, the burping laughter of a Southern leopard frog, and many more distinctive sounds. The Fowler's toad call sounds like a human shriek. "People have actually called police departments thinking they were hearing a baby screaming," said J.D. Kleopfer, amphibian specialist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "It's a real high-pitched trill." Fowler's toads are found throughout Virginia in a wide variety of habitats. Though they need water to breed, aquatic tadpoles morph into terrestrial adult toads that live upland. Because of that "dual lifestyle," Kleopfer said, toads are excellent indicators of environmental quality. "That's why there's so much research focused on frogs and toads. They really are the canaries in the coal mine," he said. Kleopfer has studied a lot of Fowler's toads, and he can assure anyone who might believe false folklore that toads do not give people warts. But some folk wisdom about toads is absolutely true. Besides being camouflage experts and being able to sit still until a danger has passed, toads have a couple of other important defenses against predators. They secrete a mild toxin from their parotid glands, directly behind their eyes. It irritates a predator's mouth. People who handle toads should wash up before touching their face or eyes. The other defense is something Kleopfer has experienced many times. "Pick them up," he said, "and they pee on you." Scientists aren't sure whether that's an actual defense--what Kleopfer calls the "ook factor"--or if it's just a response to sheer terror. There's really no need to provoke Fowler's toads or any other kind. Frogs and toads are loud but peaceable, content to eat, sing and pass along their genes. They can be beneficial as well by gobbling annoying insects. "They're great to have around your garden," Kleopfer said. "They're free labor." Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Date published: 8/11/2008
"Frogs and toads are...content to eat, sing and pass along their genes."
Not unlike the rest of us males.
|
|
|||||||||||||||
