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Learn more about World Frog Day

World Frog Day is an annual celebration celebrated on March 20. Unlike other animals, not all of us love frogs for their looks, appearance, and most importantly, their croak. Most often they are tiny creatures, small in body, and will make us scrunch up our faces. Frogs are amphibians that can be found both on land and in water. They are considered to be predators and play an important role in preserving the environment throughout their lives. In recent years, however, frogs have been critically endangered for several reasons. World Frog Day is an awareness day celebrated to save these living beings and provide them with a safer environment to survive.

What are Frogs?

Frogs are amphibians, which means they’re able to live on land and in water. They have striking characteristics, like protruding eyes, webbed feet and their skin is smooth and moist. Most of them live in water, but some species of frog live in trees or burrow down into the ground. Frogs have very strong back legs, designed to help them leap and swim. A frog’s diet also varies depending on its species. Some eat insects and other worms, while others prey on other frogs, small rodents and reptiles. Frogs have a fascinating life cycle. Female frogs lay fertilised eggs and these eggs then hatch into frogspawn. Between 6 and 21 days later, the frogspawn hatches into tadpoles. Tadpoles have no limbs, only tails to help them swim. It takes about 6 to 9 weeks for tadpoles to become fully grown, though this varies between species. During this time, they swim, eat, and grow. After about 12 weeks, the tadpole grows its legs and arms. Its body gets longer and its head gets bigger. It starts to be able to breathe underwater too. At this point, it also still has a tail. Adult frogs lose their tails. It takes between 12 and 16 weeks for the frog to go from egg to full-grown adult.

15 Fun facts about Frogs

1. Frogs have ears. Male frogs have bigger ears than females. Their ears are just behind their eyes.
2. Frogs ‘drink’ through their skin.
3. Frogs are cold-blooded - they hibernate in winter.
4. There isn’t actually a biological difference between frogs and toads. Toads are just very warty frogs.
5. There are around 7,300 species of frog.
6. Over a third of frog species are considered endangered.
7. Frogs are an extremely ancient species. Recent evidence suggests that the species is over 265 million years old, and originates from the Permian period. There are fossils of complete frogs, too, which show that - physically - they haven't changed much in this time!
8. Some adult frogs are poisonous, but their main form of defence from predators is camouflage.
9. Flying frogs can glide for 12 to 15 metres, as they have extremely effective webbed feet.
10. Female frogs can lay thousands of eggs at a time.
11. Frogs have really strong leg muscles! This makes them incredible jumpers. Some bull frogs, which average 18 cm long, can leap over 2 metres - that's ten times their length!
12. The biggest frog in the world is the goliath frog which is 30 cm long!
13. Frogs produce mucus from their skin to ensure they stay moist when they're above the water. This helps them to breathe through their skin too.
14. Frogs are known as environmental bellwethers (or indicators). This is because they are so sensitive to changes in the environment, they are usually the first to be affected and so warn other species (including us) of environmental problems.
15. Research suggests frogs have adapted to inhabit everywhere from subarctic regions to the humid heat of tropical rainforests. 

Spotty Otter Nature Club

You can download our Frog Nature Club activities here for FREE!