Poison dart frogs are small, mostly daytime-active frogs from tropical Central and South America. They are famous for vivid yellow, orange, red, green, blue, and black patterns, but their biology is more varied than the name suggests. Some species carry powerful skin alkaloids in the wild, others have much weaker chemical defenses, and several members … Read more
Frogs survive winter by matching their strategy to their species and habitat. Aquatic frogs may remain beneath pond or lake ice, where cold water still contains dissolved oxygen. Toads and other strong diggers may shelter below the frost line. Small woodland frogs can hide beneath leaf litter, logs, roots, or shallow soil. A limited group, … Read more
Salamanders are amphibians with long bodies, tails, soft skin, and an extraordinary range of life histories. Some live their entire lives in cold streams, while others spend nearly all their time beneath logs, rocks, moss, or soil. Some have lungs, some rely heavily on their skin for gas exchange, and the largest salamander family has … Read more
Amphibians are disappearing because many populations are being hit by several pressures at the same time. Habitat loss removes breeding ponds, streams, forests, and underground shelter. Infectious diseases can spread through susceptible populations. Pollution can harm eggs, larvae, adults, prey, or the water and soil they depend on. Climate change alters rainfall, temperature, snowpack, drought, … Read more
Frogs are important because they perform several jobs at once. Adult frogs hunt insects and other small animals, while eggs, tadpoles, juveniles, and adults feed a wide range of predators. Many tadpoles graze on algae, scrape biofilms, or process decaying material in freshwater. When young frogs leave the water after metamorphosis, they also move energy … Read more
The simplest difference between frogs and toads is that a toad is a type of frog, not a completely separate kind of amphibian. Both belong to the order Anura, the group of tailless adult amphibians. Animals commonly called toads often have stockier bodies, shorter hind legs, bumpier skin, and a more land-based lifestyle. Animals commonly … Read more
Amphibians are vertebrates whose lives are closely shaped by water, moisture, and temperature. The group includes frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians. Many begin life in water and later use land, but that familiar pattern is only one version of amphibian life. Some species skip a free-swimming larval stage, some remain aquatic as adults, and … Read more
Animal life cycles describe how animals develop, reproduce, and give rise to the next generation. A life cycle may begin with a fertilized egg, an embryo developing inside a parent, or an asexually produced young animal. It then continues through birth or hatching, juvenile growth, maturity, reproduction, aging, and death. The sequence sounds simple, but … Read more
Why animals abandon their young is more complicated than a parent simply deciding not to care. A young animal found alone may still be receiving normal care from a parent that feeds nearby, avoids drawing predators to the hiding place, or returns only when people have left. In other cases, care may decrease or stop … Read more
Marsupials are mammals best known for raising extremely undeveloped newborns while they remain attached to a teat, often inside a pouch. Kangaroos and koalas are the familiar examples, but the group also includes wombats, wallabies, bandicoots, bilbies, possums, opossums, gliders, quolls, and the Tasmanian devil. They range from tiny insect-eaters to large grazing kangaroos and … Read more
