Common toad

Common toad
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Bufonidae
Genus:	Bufo
Species:	B. bufo
Binomial name
Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758)

The common toad (Bufo bufo) or European toad is an amphibian widespread throughout Europe, with the exception of Iceland, Ireland and some Mediterranean islands. Its easterly range extends to Irkutsk in Siberia and its southerly range includes parts of northwestern Africa in the northern mountains of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Description

A juvenile common toad.

Adults males usually grow to 8 cm and adult females around 13 cm and their skin has a warty appearance and ranges from green to brown. They weigh about 20 to 80 grams.

Behaviour and reproduction

Toads generally hunt at night, and are most active in wet weather. As a defense against predators they secrete a toxic, foul tasting substance called bufagin. This is enough to deter many predators although grass snakes and hedgehogs are immune. Although the adults spend most of their time on land the females enter ponds and other still waters to lay their eggs, toadspawn, which can be distinguished from the spawn of the common frog as it forms strings rather than a large mass of eggs. Eggs are laid in the spring, with the females attempting to return to the water in which they were born. The young tadpoles resemble other tadpoles in their appearance except that toadpoles have a larger, rounder blacker head and shorter tail.

Diet

Young common toads eat ants and some small flies. Adult common toads eat invertebrates such as insects, insect larvae, spiders, slugs and worms, which they catch on their sticky tongues. Larger toads may also take small reptiles and rodents, which are swallowed alive.

Cultural significance

• Toads have a long association with European witchcraft, as familiars and ingredients in potions.

• In Germany, Great Britain, Northern Italy and Poland many toads are killed on the roads while migrating to their breeding grounds; in some places special tunnels have been constructed so they can cross under roads and local wildlife groups run toad patrols carrying them across busy crossing points in buckets.

• Mr. Toad, Esq. of Toad Hall, an anthropomorhpic toad, is one of the main characters in the novel The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

References

1. ^ Beja, P. et al. (2004). Bufo bufo. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is of least concern.

External links

• Amphibians of Europe
• BBC nature on the common toad