There are over 4,700 species of frogs, but Europe has very few--only 45 species.
Many frogs can jump 20 times their own height.
One of the ways you can tell a male frog from a female is by looking at their ears, which are located right behind the eyes. If it’s larger than the frog’s eye, it’s a male… if it is smaller, it’s a female.
Did you know that frogs moult? This is the process where they shed their skin.
Croaking is used by male frogs as a way to attract females.
Frogs have teeth on their upper jaw, which they use to keep their prey in one place until they can swallow it.
Frogs don’t drink water with their mouths; they “drink” by absorbing water through their skin.
Frogs can lay as many as 4,000 eggs in frogspawn.
The eyes and nose of a frog are on top of its head so it can breathe and see when most of its body is under the water.
Frogs usually eat meat (bugs and worms) and swallow their food whole.
The biggest frog in the world is the Goliath frog. It lives in West Africa and can measure more than a foot in length and weigh more than 7 pounds – as much as a newborn baby.
Paedophryne amauensis is not just the smallest frog, but the smallest vertebrate, 7.7 millimetres (0.30 in) long.
In the Seychelles, there is a male frog that carries its young around on its back until they become adults.
Frog bones form a new ring every year when the frog is hibernating, just like trees do. Scientists can count these rings to discover the age of the frog.
Because frogs come out in the rain, people used to think that they fell to earth in the rain! And in nineteenth century England, people tried catching them to prove it.
One type of desert frog can wait as long as seven years for water by surrounding itself in a type of transparent bag that becomes its first meal once the rain comes.
The golden dart frog is the most poisonous frog on earth and the skin of one frog could kill up to 1,000 people.
In recent years, a painkiller with 200 times the power of morphine has been found in the skin of a frog.
When Darwin’s frog tadpoles hatch, a male frog swallows the tadpoles. He keeps the tiny amphibians in his vocal sac for about 60 days to allow them to grow. He then proceeds to cough up tiny, fully formed frogs.
Frogs cannot live in the sea or any salt water.
Many of the most brightly colored tropical frogs are colored in this way to warn predators that they are poisonous.
A frog’s call is unique to its species, and some frog calls can be heard up to a mile away.
In Egypt the frog is the symbol of life and fertility, and in Egyptian mythology Heget is a frog-goddess who represents fertility.
Females of some frog species keep a regular check on their offspring (tadpoles) and if food becomes scarce she will deposit unfertilised eggs for them to eat.
Many species of frog care for their offspring. For example some poison dart frogs lay their eggs on the forest floor so they can guard them and urinate on them to keep them moist.
Asian tree frogs build nests in trees above water so that when the tadpoles hatch they fall directly into the water.
Frog’s tongues are attached to the front of their mouths rather than at the back like humans. When a frog catches an insect it throws its sticky tongue out of it’s mouth and wraps it around its prey. The frog’s tongue then snaps back and throws the food down its throat.
Did you know that a group of frogs is called an ‘army’?
A group of toads is called a ‘knot’.
A frog completely sheds its skin about once a week. After it pulls off the old, dead skin, the frog usually eats it.
When a frog swallows its prey, it blinks, which pushes its eyeballs down on top of the mouth to help push the food down its throat.
The wood frog of North America actually freezes in the winter and is reanimated in the spring. When temperatures fall, the wood frog’s body begins to shut down, and its breathing, heartbeat and muscle movements stop. The water in the frog’s cells freezes and is replaced with glucose and urea to keep cells from collapsing.
The glass frog has translucent skin, so you can see its internal organs, bones and muscles through its skin. You can even observe its heart beating and its stomach digesting food.
The waxy monkey frog secretes a wax from its neck and uses its legs to rub that wax all over its body. The wax prevents the skin of the frog from drying out in sunlight.
There is evidence that frogs have roamed the Earth for more than 200 million years, at least as long as the dinosaurs.
While the life spans of frogs in the wild are unknown, frogs in captivity have been known to live more than 20 years.
Toads are frogs. The word "toad" is usually used for frogs that have warty and dry skin, as well as shorter hind legs.
The bulging eyes of most frogs allow them to see in front, to the sides, and partially behind them
Frogs were the first land animals with vocal cords.
The Australian water-holding frog is a desert dweller that can wait up to seven years for rain. It burrows underground and surrounds itself in a transparent cocoon made of its own shed skin.
Almost all frogs fertilize the eggs outside of the females body. The male holds the female around the waist in a mating hug called amplexus. He fertilizes the eggs as the female lays them.
The marsupial frog keeps her eggs in a pouch like a kangaroo. When the eggs hatch into tadpoles, she opens the pouch with her toes and spills them into the water.
An ear of the frog is called tympanum and it is located just behind the eye.
The female Surinam toad lays up to 100 eggs, which are then distributed over her back. Her skin swells around the eggs until they become embedded in a honeycomb-like structure. After 12 to 20 weeks, fully formed young toads emerge by pushing out through the membrane covering the toad’s back.
There are two frogs in the world that have tails, the coastal tailed frog and the mountain tailed frog.
The average lifespan of a frog is between 10 to 14 years.
Female frogs are hard to find as they are silent most of the time.
The purple frog rediscovered in India has no head.
Many frog species are at risk of extinction due to habitat destruction and infectious diseases such as chytridiomycosis.
African bullfrogs have been known to eat members of their own species on occasion.
Frogs need to be around areas with a water source to reproduce, but other than that, they are found on every continent except Antarctica and in almost every environment.
The devil frog of Madagascar, now extinct, once held the title of largest frog. It was 16 inches long (41 cm) long and weighed 10 lbs. (4.5 kg).
Frogs will often eat any living thing that will fit into their mouths. This includes bugs, spiders, worms, slugs, larvae and even small fish.
A frogs tongue can snap back into its mouth within 15/100ths of a second.
In 1935, cane toads from Puerto Rico were introduced to Australia to kill sugarcane beetles. However, the cane toads, which can grow as large as a dinner plate, preferred to eat native frogs, small marsupials and snakes. The original 102 toads set out across the continent and have mushroomed in number to more than 1.5 billion.
Frogs become mature between two months to 3 years old. Colder temperatures can determine how fast a frog matures, as well as the species of frog.
After a female frog becomes mature, she can lay from two to more than 50,000 eggs at once, depending of species.
The word "amphibian" comes from a Greek word that means "both lives." This is because frogs start their lives in the water and then live on land.
All frogs are known for their fantastic jumping skills, but the African frog is the best. It can jump 14 feet (4.2 meters) in a single bound.
Not all frogs hop. The waxy tree frog walks like a lizard.
Amazon horned frogs are ambush predators and aggressively territorial. Some Amazon villagers wear high leather boots to repel attacks.
At the end of the tadpole stage, a frog undergoes metamorphosis in which its body makes a sudden transition into the adult form. This metamorphosis typically lasts only 24 hours.
The Limnonectes family are known as fanged frogs because of twin projections on their lower jaws that are used in fighting.
French cuisses de grenouille or frog legs dish is a traditional dish.
Chinese edible frog and pig frogs are farmed and consumed on a large scale in some areas of China.
The mountain chicken frog, so-called as it tastes of chicken is now endangered, in part due to human consumption.
Most species of frogs are nocturnal, but many others are diurnal.
Frog skin is water permiable, this means it can let water in and out. Frogs don’t often drink with their mouths, they absorb water through their skin. They have a ‘seat pouch’, an area on their bellies which is designed for water absorbtion. They absorb through capillary action from water or a moist surface.
Amplexus can last hours or days. One pair of Andean toads stayed in amplexus for four months.
Because they are cold-blooded, frogs don’t need to feed very often to support their metabolism.
The Greeks and Romans associated frogs with fertility and harmony, and with licentiousness in association with Aphrodite.
In medieval Europe the frog was a symbol of the devil, as the Catholic church associated it with witchcraft as a familiar spirit.
Frogs feature prominently in folklore, fairy tales, and popular culture. They tend to be portrayed as benign, ugly, and clumsy, but with hidden talents.
Pacman frogs or South American Horned Frogs are a group of 8 types of frogs endemic to the rainforests of South America. They are called Pacman frogs because of their extensive mouth and mid-region making them to some degree takes after Pacman
Frogs have long back legs and webbed feet for jumping and swimming.
People who study frogs and toads are called herpetologists. Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles.
There is a frog in Indonesia that has no lungs – it breathes entirely through its skin.
There’s a type of poison dart frog called the blue-jeans frog; it has a red body with blue legs. It is also sometimes called the strawberry dart frog.
The red-eyed tree frog lays it eggs on the underside of leaves that hang over water. When the eggs hatch, the tadpoles fall into the water below.
Frogs have four digits on their front feet and five on their rear feet.
Leaping or jumping is used as a means for evading predators, not for normal movement.
Male frogs have vocal sacs—pouches of skin that fill with air. These balloons resonate sounds like a megaphone, and some frog sounds can be heard from a mile away.
The Costa Rican flying tree frog soars from branch to branch with the help of its feet. Webbing between the frogs fingers and toes extends out, helping the frog glide.
Frogs are freshwater creatures, although some frogs such as the Florida leopard frog are able to live in brackish or nearly completely salt waters.
Almost all frogs fertilize the eggs outside of the females body. The male holds the female around the waist in a mating hug called amplexus. He fertilizes the eggs as the female lays them.
Smooth-sided toads native to northern South America, are one of the few toads (a subset of frogs) with smooth skin.
Tomato frogs are native to the lowlands of Madagascar. Because of their bright colors, these frogs are popular with pet owners and collectors.
Brazilian milk frogs, named for the poisonous, white secretion that this frog may produce when threatened, breed in water-filled holes high in trees.
Giant monkey frogs are found in the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon. Males call from high above the ground and descend to branches just above ponds to mate. Their call is a loud “cluck”.
Mexican dumpy frogs are from the semi-arid subtropical lowland forests of Mexico. They spend almost their entire lives off the ground, living in tree canopies on branches and leaves, and are excellent climbers.
American bullfrogs are found in ponds, lakes, and slow-moving streams throughout the U.S. The females lay 20,000 eggs at one time, and the tadpoles take up to two years to metamorphose.
African clawed frogs are almost completely aquatic and are found in stagnant pools, puddles, and streams. They originated in sub-Saharan Africa, but can now be found in freshwater habitats worldwide.
Fanged Frogs (or Fork-tongued Frogs) are so-called because they possess a notched tongue and a pair of sharp projections on the lower jaw.
Wallaces Flying Frog is distinguished from other flying frogs by its large size, and the black colouration of the webbing on all four feet.
A rare frog that had not been seen in decades has recently been rediscovered in Zimbabwe. The Arthroleptis troglodytes, also known as the “cave squeaker” because of its preferred habitat, was discovered in 1962, but there were no reported sightings since then. An international red list of threatened species tagged the frog as critically endangered and possibly extinct
A tornado caused thousands of frogs to rain from the sky in 2005 in a town in Serbia.
The Colorado River toad (Incilius alvarius), also known as the Sonoran Desert toad, is found in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Its toxin, as an exudate of glands within the skin, contains 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin.
The feet of frogs varies depending on their habitat. Frogs that inhabit wetter environments have webbed feet while tree frogs have discs on their toes that help them grasp to vertical surfaces
A spider expert found a frog living in a hole with a group of tarantulas. He speculated that the tarantulas were keeping the frog as a pet, and that the frog might have offered services to the spiders such as clearing away bothersome ants.