Amphibian Facts

September 18—List five facts from the Amphibians video we watched in class today (or five amphibian facts from the Internet if you were absent.)  Why are amphibians so reliant on water?  Why are they an important consideration when assessing water quality?

- Toads are dry with knobbly skin, they have poison glands behind their eyeballs
- Frogs are moist and smooth feelings
- Both constantly pulsate their necks for air
-Frogs jump, toads walk
- Both have porous skin, which makes them reliant on water because their skin leaks out all of the water quickly through the pores all over their body
- They both have acute hearing to be able to find a mate
- Wide variety of eye colors and pupil shapes
- Only see in black and white
- Frogs reflect UV light of the leaf, hiding from predators in plain sight
- Skin colors can be a warning sign
- Toads can puff self up as a defensive tactic
- Sticky tongues with an extended reach
- Frogs can create their own anti-freeze and survive temperatures under 0 degrees Celsius
- Closing their eyes helps push their food back in their throat
- Toads hibernate and then migrate to the breeding grounds (where they were born) 
- Amplexus is a term for egg fertilizing and laying
- The presence of frogs or toads is a indiciation that we are doing a good job of preserving wetland habitats and that the water quality is safe and unpolluted.