do you love frogs?!

[Shadowhawk]

There are many frog species that are in incredible danger! i found this website called www.savethefrogs.com that gives you ideas on how you can help save the frogs. there is also an art contest on the website. if you love frogs, you should visit this website, it's got some really cool frog facts too! i learned that the African Clawed Frog and the Green Tree Frog can live about 30 years in captivity ! do you know any other websites dedicated to saving the frogs that you can share? do you know any website that are dedicated to saving wildlife that you can share?

[Sintact]

Maybe you could provide more information about frogs instead of advertising a whole website that covers too much information --.

I personally do like frogs, I used to have some ground frogs in my house, but soon they got lost and I never knew what really happened to them. Still, I like them a lot.

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura (meaning "tail-less", from Greek an-, without + oura, tail), formerly referred to as Salientia (Latin saltare, to jump). The name frog derives from Old English frogga, (compare Old Norse frauki, German Frosch, older Dutch spelling kikvorsch), cognate with Sanskrit plava (frog), probably deriving from Proto-Indo-European praw = "to jump".[1]

Most frogs are characterized by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits (fingers or toes), protruding eyes and the absence of a tail. Most frogs have a semi-aquatic lifestyle, but move easily on land by jumping or climbing. They typically lay their eggs in puddles, ponds or lakes, and their larvae, called tadpoles, have gills and develop in water. Adult frogs follow a carnivorous diet, mostly of arthropods, annelids and gastropods. Frogs are most noticeable by their call, which can be widely heard during the night or day, mainly in their mating season.

The distribution of frogs ranges from tropic to subarctic regions, but most species are found in tropical rainforests. Consisting of more than 5,000 species described, they are among the most diverse groups of vertebrates. However, populations of certain frog species are declining significantly.

A distinction is often made between frogs and toads on the basis of their appearance, caused by the convergent adaptation among so-called toads to dry environments; however, this distinction has no taxonomic basis. The only family exclusively given the common name "toad" is Bufonidae, but many species from other families are also called "toads," and the species within the toad genus Atelopus are referred to as "harlequin frogs".

Life cycle

Frogspawn
Frogspawn development
Tadpole of Haswell's Froglet (Paracrinia haswelliThe life cycle of a frog starts with an egg. A female generally lays gelatinous egg masses containing thousands of eggs, in water. Each anuran species lays eggs in a distinctive, identifiable manner. An example are the long strings of eggs laid by the common American toad. The eggs are highly vulnerable to predation, so frogs have evolved many techniques to ensure the survival of the next generation. In colder areas the embryo is black to absorb more heat from the sun, which speeds up the development. Most commonly, this involves synchronous reproduction. Many individuals will breed at the same time, overwhelming the actions of predators; the majority of the offspring will still die due to predation, but there is a greater chance some will survive. Another way in which some species avoid the predators and pathogens eggs are exposed to in ponds is to lay eggs on leaves above the pond, with a gelatinous coating designed to retain moisture. In these species the tadpoles drop into the water upon hatching. The eggs of some species laid out of water can detect vibrations of nearby predatory wasps or snakes, and will hatch early to avoid being eaten.[16] Some species, such as the Cane Toad (Bufo marinus), lay poisonous eggs to minimise predation. While the length of the egg stage depends on the species and environmental conditions, aquatic eggs generally hatch within one week. Other species goes through their whole larval phase inside the eggs or the mother, or they have direct development. Unlike salamanders and newts, frogs and toads never become sexually mature while still in their larval stage.

Eggs hatch and continue life as tadpoles (occasionally known as polliwogs), which typically have oval bodies and long, vertically flattened tails. At least one species (Nannophrys ceylonensis) has tadpoles that are semi-terrestrial and lives among wet rocks,[17][18] but as a general rule, free living larvae are fully aquatic. They lack lungs, eyelids, front and hind legs, and have a cartilaginous skeleton, a lateral line system, gills for respiration (external gills at first, internal gills later) and tails with dorsal and ventral folds of skin for swimming.[19] Some species which go through the metamorphosis inside the egg and hatch to small frogs never develop gills, instead there are specialised areas of skin that takes care of the respiration. Tadpoles also lack true teeth, but the jaws in most species usually have two elongate, parallel rows of small keratinized structures called keradonts in the upper jaw while the lower jaw has three rows of keradonts, surrounded by a horny beak, but the number of rows can be lower or absent, or much higher[1]. Tadpoles are typically herbivorous, feeding mostly on algae, including diatoms filtered from the water through the gills. Some species are carnivorous at the tadpole stage, eating insects, smaller tadpoles, and fish. Cannibalism has been observed among tadpoles. Early developers who gain legs may be eaten by the others, so the late bloomers survive longer. This has been observed in England in the species Rana temporaria (common frog).[20]

Tadpoles are highly vulnerable to predation by fish, newts, predatory diving beetles and birds such as kingfishers. Poisonous tadpoles are present in many species, such as Cane Toads. The tadpole stage may be as short as a week, or tadpoles may overwinter and metamorphose the following year in some species, such as the midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) and the common spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus). In the Pipidae, with the exception for Hymenochirus, the tadpoles have paired anterior barbels which make them resemble small catfish.[21]


Adult leopard frogWith the exception of the base of the tail, where a few vertebral structures develop to give rise to the urostyle later in life, the tail lacks the completely solid, segmental, skeletal elements of cartilage or bony tissue that are so typical for other vertebrates, although it does contain a notochord

At the end of the tadpole stage, frogs undergo metamorphosis, in which they transition into adult form. Metamorphosis involves a dramatic transformation of morphology and physiology, as tadpoles develop hind legs, then front legs, lose their gills and develop lungs. Their intestines shorten as they shift from an herbivorous to a carnivorous diet. Eyes migrate rostrally and dorsally, allowing for binocular vision exhibited by the adult frog. This shift in eye position mirrors the shift from prey to predator, as the tadpole develops and depends less upon a larger and wider field of vision and more upon depth perception. The final stage of development from froglet to adult frog involves apoptosis (programmed cell death) and resorption of the tail.

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Nature/Life cycle of a frog
After metamorphosis, young adults may leave the water and disperse into terrestrial habitats, or continue to live in the aquatic habitat as adults. Almost all species of frogs are carnivorous as adults, eating invertebrates such as arthropods, annelids and gastropods. A few of the larger species may eat prey such as small mammals, fish and smaller frogs. Some frogs use their sticky tongues to catch fast-moving prey, while others capture their prey and force it into their mouths with their hands. However, there are a very few species of frogs that primarily eat plants.[22] Adult frogs are themselves preyed upon by birds, large fish, snakes, otters, foxes, badgers, coatis, and other animals. Frogs are also eaten by people (see section on uses in agriculture and research, below).

Frogs and toads can live for many years; though little is known about their life span in the wild, captive frogs and toads are recorded living up to 40 years.[23]

Source and more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog
http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2009/05 ... 12up_2.jpg


Information about species and frog family: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Anuran_families

[Poprocks]

I would like to save the frogs but, I think wolves have a bigger part in the ecosystem... So I will stick with saving one animal right now.

[Sintact]

Actually frogs are not that in danger since they don't have fur and humans don't hunt them down for a specific reason, if they disappear it might be for natural reason, due to predators or maybe in some cases due to human contact and the usage of wild space.

African Clawed Frog
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/009 ... d_frog.jpg

These frogs are plentiful in ponds and rivers within the south-eastern portion of Sub-Saharan Africa. They are aquatic and are often greenish-grey in color. Albino varieties are sold as pets.

The average life-span of these frogs ranges from 5 to 15 years with some individuals having been recorded to live for nearly 20 years.

Green Tree Frog
http://www.newint.org/issue378/pics/life-1.jpg

The habitat of American green tree frogs is usually near lakes, farm ponds, floodplain sloughs, cattail marshes, or bald cypress swamps. They inhabit the southeastern United States and some areas to the north and west, including all of Florida, southern Georgia, Louisiana, Delaware, eastern Maryland and Virginia, eastern North and South Carolina, eastern Texas, and areas extending along the Mississippi Valley to southern Illinois. They may possibly inhabit northeastern Mexico. They are also known to inhabit Vancouver Island in British Columbia in Canada.

This is a common backyard species that can often be seen at porch lights, where they may gather to look for insects to eat. During the day, the green tree frogs may be found resting on the plants beside the pond.

Both sources of information were taken from Wikipedia.

[Blightwolf]

Personally I prefer the small poisonous and brightly-colored frogs, there is something very endearing and "cute" about them. Frogs are nice, I used to have a tiny pet frog when I was a small kid.

Thanks for all the info, Sintact.

[Growling Wolves]

Thanks for posting that information, Sintact.
And I do like frogs, but not as much as lizards, amphibians are second on my list when it comes to reptiles (:
But when it comes to frogs, I prefer the small ones, because honestly, that's the only kind my pet store has. But I also used to see small ones in the lakes in forest walks and at the beach (like tadpoles).

[roamingspitit321]

I like frogs and when we go to minnesota every year there are toads and green frogs in the lake, and sometimes i catch them..... but i ALWAYS let them go and I also like the bright colored frogs

[frog wolf]

yes i love frogs because every summer when it rains the frogs have there eggs in a puddle near my house we dont let it dry up we save it and refill it!

[Growling Wolves]

That's cool, we don't have frogs near my house, but if I travel a little ways down near a woodsy part of my state, I see lots of them in ponds.

[Zelma]

HATE FROGS! Don't make fun of this, but they're one of my worst fears.

[ProjectMischa]

I like frogs. Lots of wild frogs get stuck in my pool and i save them every day. I have four fully aquatic frogs in my fish tank too. I named them Bob, Missy, Jerry, and Fiffi. I also saw some firebelly toads at the pet store they look really cute and cool. Firebelly toads have black spots all over their bodies and green skin on their backs and red on their bellys, which gives them their name.

[Yogi]

I'm not a big fan of frogs, but I'm always trying my best to help endangered aniimals like frogs.

[Blightwolf]

Not all frogs are endangered. There are several tiny frogs living in our front yard, I sometimes try to catch them so I could re-locate them into a better place.

[Sillicon]

I don't like frogs but I don't love them, they sometimes creep me out, but anyway. In my back garden there is a pond and every (forgot the season) loads of frogs come, and leave loads of frogsborn, after a while they all hatch and theres loads of tadpole in my pond. They all grow up and leave, I don't have a clue were they go lol.

[Sintact]

I like to see how frogs develope since they are an egg. Their development is really fast, so if you track down a small pong with the natural requirements a frog needs to live and you actually see frogs around, wait until they start reproducing and go every day for seeing their process.

You will see something like this:
http://www.researchtraining.org/images/ ... opment.JPG
http://www.infovisual.info/02/img_en/02 ... 20frog.jpg