There are more than 400 species of frogs (Ranidae family). These frogs have the characteristics of: two bulging eyes strong, long, webbed hind feet that are adapted for leaping and swimming smooth or slimy skin

Drink
Frogs drink and breathe through their unique type of skin Frogs absorb most of the moisture they need through their skin, they don't ususally swallow water. They also get oxygen through their skin when it's moist. Even with their slimy skin, frogs need to stay near water in order to survive. They can also get get moisture from dew, or they can burrow underground into moist soil. If a frog does not keep moist it could suffocate. Toads have tougher skin that doesn't dry out as fast, so they can live farther away from the water.

Shedding skin
Frogs shed their skin regularly to keep it healthy. Some frogs shed their skin weekly, while others shed as often as every day! First they stretch themselves out of their old skin by twisting and turning (it looks as if they have the hiccups). The frog then pulls the skin off over it's head, like a sweater, and then they eat it.

Jumping
Frogs can jump over 20 times their own length. The average flea can jump up to 150 times its own length. A kangaroo can leap about 4 1/2 times it's length. Elephants can't jump at all! As far as I know, the longest frog jump on record measured 33 feet 5.5 inches. It was made by a frog named Santjie at a frog derby held in South Africa. allaboutfrogs.org Frog Feet

Tree frogs
Tree frogs have sticky pads on the tips of the fingers and toes., which help in climbing,

Feet For Swimming
Aquatic Frogs like the African Dwarf Frog and the African Clawed Frog, have webbing between their toes that aid in swimming.

Feet For Digging
Frogs that burrow into the sand to keep moist in the heat have stubby clawlike fingers that are adapted to digging.

Feet For Flying!

Some frogs in the Rhacophorus species, such as R. reinwardtii and R. nigropalmus, have parachute-like webbing on their hands and feet which act as an air-brake when they glide from tree to tree or leaf to leaf. These frogs are known as "Flying Frogs."

Frogs can hear using big round ears on the sides of their head called a tympanum (meaning drum)that are connected to their lungs. On some frogs, the ear is very hard to see! When they hear noises, not only does the eardrum vibrate, but so do the lungs. Scientists think that this special pressure system is what keeps frogs from hurting themselves with their noisy calls.

Some frogs have tongues that are long and sticky used to catch bugs. These roll out like upside-down party horns and snap at the bug. Frogs with long tongues go by the "see it - snap it" technique of feeding. Toads, on the other hand, like my firebellied toads, have tiny tongues and have to snap at their food using their mouth. They often will stalk their food, much like a cat sneaking up on it's prey. They creep up to it and SNAP! My firebelly toads eat once a week. They prefere crickets though mealworms can be substituted. They sneak up to their prey and leap open-mouthed at their food.

When a frog swallows a meal, his bulgy eyeballs will close and go down into his head! This is because the eyeballs apply pressure and actually push a frog's meal down his throat! Most frogs do in fact have teeth of a sort. They have a ridge of very small cone teeth around the upper edge of the jaw called Maxillary Teeth. Frogs often have Vomerine Teeth on the roof of their mouth. They don't have teeth on their lower jaw, so they usually swallow their food whole. The so-called "teeth" are mainly used to hold the prey and keep it in place till they can get a good grip on it and squash their eyeballs down to swallow their meal. Toads, however, do not have any teeth.

Frogs lay eggs in clusters and.

"true frogs" bullfrog, common frog, green frog, leopard frog, marsh frog, pickerel frog, and wood frog.

Toads are members of the Bufonidae family containing more than 300 species. Toads have stubby bodies with short hind legs and walk instead of hopping. Toads tend to lay eggs in long chains,the genera Nectophrynoides is the only type to bear live young. Their skin is warty and dry, and they usually prefer the dryer climates.

There's really no easy way to tell if frog is male or female. Some frogs the female is bigger and darker, and for some frogs, its the opposite. Some frogs have only males that sing. If a frog has a vocal sac (the kind that blows up like a balloon) it's very likely to be the male. Though there are species of frogs where both males and females participate in singing and sometimes the type of song they make is what is different.

You can sometimes tell male from female because during the mating season the males get little pads between the "thumb" and "forefinger" of their frog hands. These pads get inflated and are used to hold onto their sweethearts during activities. These pads can be extremely hard to see.

Another way to guess is to see which frog is the one that hops on top of other frogs. These are usually males...looking for females, but, this doesn't necessarily mean that the frog underneath is female! Usually the male frogs can't tell either, so they'll hop on anything and everything that might be a female, including other male frogs, rocks, logs, and even peoples shoes.

World record frog jumping contest
Lee Giudici of Los Altos set the world record in 1986 when he entered his frog, Rosie the Ribiter, in the Calaveras Jumping Frog Jubilee in Angels Camp. "I wish I knew frog talk because there would be some crazy talking going on," said the jumping frog world record holder, referring to the times when he returns his frogs to the wild after competition. After three leaps, Rosie's jump measured a combined total of 21 feet, 5 inches. Giudici has won three titles since he began competing 38 years ago. Giudici is the holder of the world record

. Giudici explained that the road to success was not an easy one. "The first time we searched for frogs, we searched all night," he said. "We finally found one frog and decided to catch it. We didn't know how to catch it and I ended up falling in the water." When he finally brought the frog to Angel's Camp, he said his "ignorance was showing very loudly." Forgetting that frogs were coldblooded, Giudici packed his frog in ice the night before the competition. By competition time, when Giudici brought his frog out, he found it fast asleep. "We tried to coax it and even swatted it on the butt," he said. "It took one mighty leap and that was it. Every frog is required to leap three times, so we were disqualified."

Over the years, Giudici learned from his experience and found an easier way to catch frogs.After capturing a frog, Giudici would give it some test jumps to see if it has what he is looking for. "A lot of frogs take one mighty leap, and then a small one so that if there was a predator, they would overrun the frog," Giudici said. "Some take one leap straight ahead and then might go to the left or right. I look for one that has straight leaps." Another thing he looks for is the frog's size since they are required to measure at least 4 inches long. Giudici said he has "an edge over the competition" because he pays more attention to his little competitors more than most people would. He keeps his frogs in wet sacks in the cellar and keeps the temperature at 55 degrees. At this temperature, the frogs are warm enough to be ready for competition, he said. Other competitors might make the mistake of warming up their frogs too much, resulting in burnout.

After every competition, Giudici said he gets up early the next morning to return the frog to its exact location. He even returned the world record setting Rosie to her rightful place after keeping her for nearly five days. The winning frog's leap at this year's frog jumping competition at Angel's Camp measured 19 feet, 7 inches. Although it sounds close to beating the record, Giudici said, it still has a long way to go. "A frog's legs are maybe 6 to 8 inches long," he said. "It's like they have to jump an average of 7 feet per leap (to tie the world record)."

On July 4, Giudici plans to participate in another frog jump competition that will be held at Roaring Camp Railroads in Santa Cruz. He said he won't be competing, but will hand out frogs to anyone who wants to participate. Winners will be awarded trophies and prizes. After the competition, participants will return the frogs, and Giudici will return them to their natural habitat. Participants at the Calaveras Jumping Frog Jubilee can win cash prizes, Giudici said, and can receive up to $5,000 if their frog breaks the world record. http://www.losaltosonline.com/articles/2002/06/12/communit11.txt

 

Largest frog The Goliath frog (Conraua goliath) is the largest kind of frog. They come from West Africa. Their bodies can reach nearly a foot (30 cm) long and their legs are also at least as long. Yes, that is a baby deer next to that frog! The Conraua Goliath weighs as much as a large housecat, about 3.3 kilos! This image was found in Inky's Linkies: Herp Gallery	Cane toads are another kind of large frog. Cane toads are also called "marine toads" or "giant toads". Adult marine toads generally range in size from 6-9 inches (15-23cm) but may get larger. This image is from the Frogs of the Townsville Region page.
Click on image to see full-sized

The smallest frog in the Southern Hemisphere is the Gold Frog, or Brazilian Psyllophryne Didactyla. Adult Gold Frogs measure only 9.8 millimetres in body length (with legs drawn in). That's about one centimeter or about 3/8 of an inch! Equally small is the smallest frog in the Northern Hemisphere, Eleutherodactylus iberia, a one-centimeter-long frog from Cuba. On the right is a picture of the Eleutherodactylus iberia frog, sitting on a cuban coin,which is the size of a U.S. nickel, so you can see how small it really is! Alberto Estrada a cuban scientist discovered the tiny orange-striped black frog living under leaf litter in a humid rainforest on Cuba's Monte Iberia. For more information about the newest found cuban frog, see: Biotic Surveys Program.