When I was assigned the animal Bufo bufo, I didn’t think there would be anything interesting about it. But, I was wrong. I thought their eating habits were very strange. Young common toads eat ants and some small flies. Adult common toads eat invertebrates such as insects, 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. I thought that was pretty interesting.

 

The common toad females enter ponds and other still waters to lay their eggs, toad spawn, 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 tadpoles have a larger, rounder blacker head and shorter tail. I thought it was strange that the common toad laid eggs under water.

 

Author: Chris B

Published: 02-2010

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Toad

 

Photo Credit:
Bartosz Kosiorek

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Bufo_Bufo.jpg