The ranidae family.(frogs)

Part one the common frog.

A common frog.

Open woods,ponds,shady habitats and lush pastures are typical places where you might find common frogs. They don`t like to be to far from water. But they are now becoming more common in our gardens that have ponds. They are found throughout most of Britain. Frogs eat small insects and slugs and snails, they have got long sticky tongues that shoot out to enable them to catch their prey. Because of this they are a welcome visitor to anyone`s garden. They like to hunt at night when it is cooler, during the day they may be seen hiding in tall grass. The common frog lives in damp places on land for most of the year. They are well camouflaged so they normally blend in well. They have a dark patch behind their eye which is distinctive, But their body colour varies from dark-greenish to grey or even sometimes chestnut-yellow with  Their skin being moist. On rare occasions you may evan see an albino common frog. They have a rounded snout with large black pupils that are flecked with gold and brown, their nostrils and eyes are positioned on the top of their head . Their eyes have  transparent inner eye-lids to protect them when they are under water. The female is about three inches in length with the male being slightly smaller. Adult common frogs have long hind legs with shorter fore legs. Their hind legs have webbed toes whereas their fore legs don`t. They use their hind legs to enable them to leap or hop, they do not crawl like toads.  They hibernate from November through to early March depending on the climate, they hibernate in a hiberaculum in a sheltered place on land or at the bottom of ponds. Frogs have lungs so when on land they use these but when under water they breathe through their skin. After hibernation they emerge to migrate to their breeding ponds. Common frogs will head to the same breeding ponds every year, it`s usually the pond that they were born in. The males arrive first, then the females look for a mate to breed with. The males will hold their own territory and carry on croaking to try and attract a female. When they mate they the position they take is called the ampelexus position. This can last for several days, The male sits on the top of the females back and grasps around her middle section, This normally happens in the water but can occasionally be on land. The female then releases her eggs, upto two thousand eggs which are called spawn. The male fertilizes her eggs with a milky liquid substance. The eggs then form together with a gel coating that thickens in the water. This coating helps to protect the newly fertilized eggs, and warms them slightly to speed development. After spawning the adult frogs will stay in the water until the outside temperature warms up, this is normally in April. If there are to many tadpoles in the water they release a chemical called theroxin. This prevents some of the tadpoles from going through the metamorphosis process. The reason they do this is if there are to many tadpoles in the water there will not be enough food for all of them as tadpoles or froglets. Some of them will stay as tadpoles until there is enough food for them and then they will metamorphosis. This enables the tadpoles to develop at different rates and may leave the water as late as September. The first tadpoles hatch after about fourteen days, by about three months old they have developed four legs, ready for life on land. They emerge from the ponds in June or July and are called froglets, they still have a tadpole tail, but this soon disappears. The frogs reach maturity after about two years. The froglets are pre-dated by blackbirds, but as they become frogs they are pre-dated by a host of animals which include crows, herons, grass snakes, hedgehogs, rats, foxes, and cats. They can live for upto eight years in the wild.

                                                                     A common frog.