Amazing Frogs

Written by:Mrs. Miller’s Second Grade Class

2012

Table of ContentsIntroduction…………………….2Life Cycle………………………….3Body Parts………………….......7Diet…………………………………12Protection……………………...13Habitats………………………….19Weird and Wacky Facts…..21Glossary………………………….25Index……………………….........26

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Frogs are marvelous animals. They are amphibians along with salamanders and newts. This means they live a double life. They spend part of their life in water and part of their life on land.

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How Do Frogs Grow?

A frog’s life begins as an egg. Frog’s eggs are called spawn. The wee little eggs are delicate and slippery. They are surrounded with a slimy clear jelly. The jelly protects the tiny dot that will become a tadpole. Frogs lay their eggs in or near calm water.

Did You Know?Some frogs lay

thousands of eggs at one time. Others lay

only a handful.

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This is a close up view of Frog spawn.

After they hatch, they are called tadpoles. Tadpoles look like miniature fish. They now swim in water and eat teeny underwater plants. They have gills to help them breathe underwater.

Did You Know?Strawberry Dart Frog mothers take each of

their tadpoles to a leaf filled with water to grow. She then comes back to

check on each one.

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As they grow, their gills begin to close up. They are growing lungs. They must swim to the surface to get air. They can eat tiny insects that fall into the water.

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The tadpoles grow their back legs first. Then their front legs start to grow. As their legs get longer and stronger, their tails get shorter and weaker. Soon they will have no tail at all. The young frogs are called froglets. Frogs will get to spend more time on land. They can still breathe in water through their moist skin.

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Back leg

Front leg

What Do Frogs Look Like?

Frogs are many different colors and sizes. The smallest frog ever discovered is as compact as your fingernail. This frog was recently found in the forests of Papau New Guinea. These special frogs are born as frogs not tadpoles. The Goliath Frog can be as massive as a dinner plate. It can be found in western Africa. 7

World’s smallest frog, sitting on a dime. This Frog was discovered in 2012.

Their bodies are symmetrical. They have four legs. Their front legs are shorter than their back legs. Frogs have long back legs to help them jump. Some frogs can jump up to 20 times the length of their body. The Folding Leaf Frog uses its legs to climb.

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This frog is using its back legs to leap forward.

Over half a frog’s bones are in its feet. They use their feet for many things. Tree Frogs have little suckers on their feet to keep them from slipping when climbing. Other frogs have webbed feet. Webbed feet help them swim in water. The Gliding Frog has webbed feet and little suckers. Its feet help it glide from treetops for long distances.

Spadefoot Toads use their feet to dig burrows in the ground where there is water. 9

little suckers

webbing

Gliding Tree Frog

Frogs have very long sticky tongues. This helps them catch their food. If you had a tongue like a frog’s tongue, it would touch your belly button.

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They have big bulging eyes that stick out on top of their head. They can see all around their body. They also use their eyes to help them eat. When they catch their prey they blink their eyes to help push the prey from their mouth into their stomach. 11

This Mink Frog uses Its eyes to watch for predators.

What Do Frogs Eat? Frogs are not picky eaters. They like to eat many different foods. Most frogs eat insects such as butterflies, beetles, flies, moths and mosquitos. Some frogs eat worms, spiders and snails. The Horned Frog sometimes eats mice, small snakes and even other frogs.

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The Agile Frog likes to munch on grasshoppers.

This Tree Frog is eating one of his favorite meals, a dragonfly.

How Do Frogs Protect Themselves?

Frogs have to protect themselves from many enemies. Some of their predators are snakes, hawks, alligators and raccoons. These predators like to eat frogs. 13

This frog has to jump high to get away from the hungry cat.

Many frogs use camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. Hopefully their predators will not be able to see them. The Mossy Tree Frog matches the color of cave walls and moss covered trees. The Folding Leaf Frog blends in with leaves in its habitat.

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Mediterranean Tree Frog

Mossy Tree Frog

Agile Frog

Can you find all the hidden frogs?

Poison Dart Frogs do not use camouflage to protect themselves. They are brightly colored to warn predators not to eat them. Poison Dart Frogs are poisonous. Their poison is on their skin. They get their poison from the insects they eat.

Did You Know?Poison Dart Frogs are

called the jewels of the rain forest because of their beautiful colors.

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Dyeing Poison Dart Frog

Blue Poison Dart Frog

There is a tiny yellow poison frog called Terribilis (Tair uh BIL us). It has enough poison to kill ten people or twenty thousand mice. Even though poison dart frogs are very dangerous to most other animals, they still have a few predators. The Liophis snake can eat the poison dart frog without being affected.

Did You Know?Hunters rub their

arrows on Poison Dart Frogs skin to get their poison. They use it to

kill other animals.

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The Terribilis is also known as the Golden Poison Frog.

Some frogs jump really high to get away from predators. A big Bull Frog can jump up to 6 feet to get away from a predator.

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This frog has to jump high to get away from the hungry cat.

Frogs can even trick their predators. When the Tomato Frog sees a predator, it puffs its body up to make the predator think he is too big to eat.

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Where Do Frogs Live?

Frogs live in many different places. They need a habitat with food, open space, and water. They need lots of fresh air. The only continent you will not find a frog on is Antarctica.

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Tadpoles swimming In a stream.

This frog is in his forest habitat.

Some of their habitats are ponds, swamps, forests and even deserts. The Desert Tree Frog lives in dry places. They hide under rocks, trees and leaves to escape the heat from the sun.

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This desert tree frog lives in a dry habitat.

Weird and Wacky Facts

*The Surinam Toad lives in the Amazon River. After the female lays the eggs, the male places them into little holes in her skin. There the eggs hatch and the tadpoles grow into froglets. When they are grown, they pop out of their mother’s back.

Weird and Wacky Facts

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Young toads coming out of their mother’s back.

*Dancing Frogs dance to attract a mate.

*Coqui Frogs get their name from the “CoKee” sound that they make.

*Glass Frogs have clear skin. You can see their organs.

Weird and Wacky Facts

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*Water-Holding frogs hold water in their skin. People have used them for drinking water. They gently squeeze them to get the water out then they put them back.

*Once a bull frog ate sixteen baby cobra snakes for one meal.

Weird and Wacky Facts

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*The smallest frog ever found grows very different than most frogs. They do not go through the same life cycle. These frogs hatch from their eggs as frogs not tadpoles.

Weird and Wacky Facts

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GlossaryAmphibian: An animal that spends part of their life in water and part of their life on land.

Camouflage: Blending in with surroundings.

Froglet: The stage of the life cycle after tadpole. A young frog.

Gills: A body part that an animal uses to breathe under water.

Poisonous: Something that has a substance that can harm or kill other animals.

Spawn: frog eggs

Tadpole: The form of a frog when they first hatch from eggs. They have tails and no legs. They breathe under water with gills. 25

IndexAgile frog 12, 14amphibian 2breathing 4Bull frog 17, 23burrow 9camouflage 14, 15climbing 8color 7, 15Coqui frog 22Dancing frog 22Desert tree frog 20eating 5, 12, 23eggs 3enemies 13eyes 10feet 9Folding leaf frog 8, 14food 10froglet 6, 21

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Gliding tree frog 9Golden frog 16Glass frog 22growth 3, 4, 5gills 4, 5Goliath frog 7habitat 14, 19, 20jumping 17legs 6, 8Liophis snake 16lungs 5Mink frog 10Mossy tree frog 14newt 2

Poison dart frog 15, 16poisonous 14, 16predator 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18prey 11protection 13salamander 2size 7skin 6, 15, 21, 23smallest frog 7, 24Spadefoot toad 9, 23spawn 3suckers 9Surinam toad 21tadpoles 3, 4, 6, 19, 23Terribilis 16Tomato frog 18tongue 10Tree frog 12, 14webbed feet 9

About the Authors

Mrs. Miller’s second grade class is from Boonville, North Carolina. They put a lot of hard work into creating this book. They researched frogs in books and on the internet. They have been inspired by their classroom African Dwarf Frogs, Suzie and Elmo. Other books by these authors include Incredible Spiders and The Talented Jeepie. 27

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Photo Creditsp.2 jpfeight.edu.glogster.com/glog-5232-2688/p.3 www.chicagowildernessmag.orgp.4 www.dougwechsler.comp.5 www.dkimages.comp.6 www.emfoley.comp.7 left- www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March12/TiniestFrog.html right- Encyclopedia Brittanica p.8 billdraker.com/misc-photography.phpp.9 www.arkive.orgp.10 www.corbisimages.comp.11-14 www.arkive.orgp.15 www.petsfoto.com/poison-dart-frogs/p.16 www.wikipedia.comp.17-19 www.arkive.org p.20 left- www.arkive.org right- www.easttimorzoo.orgp.22 top- http://www.huffingtonpost.com bottom- www.sciencephoto.comp.23 www.nationalgeographic.com

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Frogs

First there are eggsRushing out come tadpolesOut grow their legsGills close upSoon we have amazing frogs