It is a start of another exciting week and it is going to be a fascinating week. I have a great lineup of Wild Facts for you to start November off right! So, grab a coffee, get the sugar rushed kids off the ceiling fan and let’s start the week with some fun facts about toads.
More specifically, let’s take a look at the Fowler’s Toad which is listed as threatened in Ontario and Canada. The fowler’s toad is a small toad that usually grows between 5-7 centimeters. Generally it is a light greenish grey colour with dark spots. Each one of these dark spots has 3 or more warts on it. Remember, this as it will be important later on in the Wild Fact. Since this isn’t a very big toad you would think that they would have several types of predators. Of course they do! Snakes, birds and small mammals love to feast on these little fowler toads. How can these tiny, vulnerable toads protect themselves against these larger threats? They actually have several ways of defending themselves. The first is by camouflage. Since the colour of their skin is considered to be an “earth tone” it helps them blend into the natural surroundings. The fowler’s toad, however, does not solely depend on camouflage to protect itself. Remember I told you to pay attention to the warts on their backs. How could these warts help protect them? No, the fear of getting warts does not scare their predators. Good guess though and pretty clever! Actually, these warts are able to produce a noxious chemical that can be deadly if ingested by small animals. At the very least this chemical will irritate the mouth of the would be predator giving the little toad a chance to make its escape. Although, if this doesn’t work and the toad is seriously getting roughed up then the take a page out of the Hognose Snakes book and play dead. They aren’t an A-List actor like the hognose but hopefully their special chemical will do the trick!
If you happen to be within the range of the fowler’s toad (i.e. Eastern North America) then please look out for these little guys. They are a threatened species in Ontario and are protected by the Endangered Species Act, 2007.
Well, I hope you all have a great week!
I don’t now how endangered they are, but we have a ton of toads in the summer hanging around underneath the garage lights waiting for their next meal and they sure do look an awful lot like these guys. Of course the toads we see here vary in size with some of them quite a bit larger than these little guys you’re talking about. I will definitely be taking a closer look next summer.
Well, the Fowler’s toad are threatened in Ontario mostly because they are at the limits of their range. The toads you are most likely seeing are American Toads which look fairly similar and are very common. It sounds like you have a zoo over at your house. All kinds of animals at the farm, eh?
I have actually seen the Fowler, living in Northern NY State. But I thought for once and all I would learn here if you really can get wort’s from these frogs. So Nathan can we? huh huh 🙂
hahaha! This is a great question. Actually, I have been thowing around the idea of having the weekend posts dedicated to myths or random animal questions.
To answer your question about toads and warts. The answer is simple. No, toads will not give you warts. Neither will frogs or any other amphibian for that matter. The bumps on toads are actually mucous or poison glands. In no way will these bumps give you warts. Apparently this is an old wives tale made up to stop children from playing with animals.
So what causes warts? Well, according to a dermatolgoist on Health and Wellbeing, warts are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus. That’s right, it is a virus that humans can pick up almost anywhere so make sure you wash your hands.
Thanks for a great question!
What do people think about having a regular post on animal myths and random animal questions?
I would love a weekend post! Animal myths and random animal questions would be very interesting and fun.
Nice to see some support for this idea. Do you have any myths or questions that you would like solved?
If I had a penny for every time I said,”I’ll ask Nathan” (but never did ask) I would be rich right now; however, for the life of me I can’t think of one of those questions at this moment!
As well as ask questions, it would be nice if we could send pictures of wild life that we wanted identified. Just a thought…
hahaha! Well, I am kinda glad you didn’t ask since I probably wouldn’t have any questions to answer once we start our special weekend post. I like the idea of identifying pictures but as usual I will make no promises to being able to identify everything. Do you have any idea how many beetles there are?
I will continue to give this some thought and determine if this is the direction that I want Wild Facts to take but I will definitely keep you all posted!
Have a great night!