THE ANIMAL FILES

Common toad

Bufo bufo

A quiet night walk leads back to a crowded breeding pond.

Common toads shelter on land and hunt after dusk, then return to ponds to breed in spring. Small prey are caught with a flick of the tongue; their eggs form long strings in water.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Common toad
Image: Taka · Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Adult movement
Walking and short shuffling hops[1]
Egg arrangement
Long gelatinous strings in water[1]
Daily activity
Often emerges around dusk[1]

A low body with a different gait

Common toads have a broad, squat body and relatively short hind legs. They often walk or make short hops rather than using the long leaps associated with some frogs.[1]

A tongue for small moving meals

Adults shelter under leaves, roots or stones during the day and emerge to hunt in low light. Small prey can be caught with a flick of the tongue, while larger items are taken with the jaws. Food is swallowed whole rather than chewed, connecting capture method with the animal’s toothless mouth.[1]

Water reappears in the next generation

Adults travel to breeding ponds in spring, where females lay long gelatinous strings of eggs. Tadpoles develop in the water before growing legs and absorbing their tails.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Does a land-dwelling adult mean the species has left water behind?

No. Adult feeding and shelter can be terrestrial, while reproduction and tadpole development are aquatic. Different parts of a life cycle can depend on different environments without belonging to different species.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why follow both a pond and the ground around it?

Reveal the explanation

The pond reveals eggs and tadpoles, while surrounding ground provides adult feeding and shelter. Studying only one location would leave out the connection that allows the animal to move between these stages.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Common toad (fixed revision; adapted and translated)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Bufo bufo (identity and classification)

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

Cane toadA toad with a remarkably broad menu.Rhinella marina ↗Harlequin poison frogA tiny pool can become a nursery supplied with unfertilised eggs.Oophaga histrionica ↗European tree frogToe discs connect a pond-breeding frog to life above the ground.Hyla arborea ↗