GENERAL INFORMATION
ABOUT TOADS

• TOADS are amphibians that
  are usually distinguished from frogs by rougher skin
  and shorter hind legs.
• The toads are rough-skinned, generally land-dwelling,
  tailless amphibians closely related to frogs.
• In the tropics, the differences are harder to
  determine, and some species could qualify as either
  toads or frogs.
• Toads are often stouter than frogs and cannot leap
  as far.
• They are often brownish or grayish in color and have
  warty skin, a flat head, bright eyes, and slightly
  webbed toes.
• Toads are shy and usually nocturnal.
• They mainly eat invertebrates.
• To feed, toads flick their tongue forward, and the
  sticky tip grasps prey.
• In temperate regions, toads hibernate in burrows.
• In spring they mate and females lay their numerous
  eggs in pools.
• True toads make up the family Bufonidae.
• More than 200 species, classified in the genus
  Bufo, are found in North and South America, Europe,
  Asia, and Africa from sea level to more than 4,500 m
  (15,000 ft) in the Himalayas.
• Members of other genera are also found throughout
  the world except in Australia and Antarctica.
• Some others like the Atelopus, Dendrophryniscus,
  and Oreophrynella species occur only in tropical areas.
• The name toad is, however, also used to refer to
  members of certain frog families.
• These include the Mexican burrowing toad,
  Rhinophrynus dorsalis, in the family Rhinophrynidae,
  the Surinam toads, genus Pipa, in the family Pipidae,
  the fire-bellied toads, Bombina, and the midwife toads,
  Alytes obstetricans, of the family Discoglossidae.
• Toads generally have squat bodies and short legs.
• Most are moderate-size, about 5 to 8 cm(2 to 3 in)long.
• Most are drab, with shades of brown, tan, gray, or
  black serving to conceal the animal.
• A few genera of toad are brightly colored or spotted.
• A toad's thick, warty skin allows it to inhabit
  drier regions than does a frog.
• They frequently use horny projections on their hind
  feet to dig shallow burrows in which to hide.
• As cold weather approaches, they find a secluded spot
  and hibernate for several months.
• Toads do not jump as frogs do, but make short hops
  or even walk.
• They are the prey of many animals.
• When provoked or injured, toads secrete a poison
  from their skin. In most species poison glands are
  scattered over the body, but they may be concentrated
  on the side of the neck.
• The poison is a thick, white alkaloid that may kill
  a predator or merely taste unpleasant.
• Toads also defend themselves by inflating their
  bodies, a tactic that increases their bulk and makes
  them harder to swallow.
• They typically breed in water. The eggs are laid in
  strings, the male fertilizing them as they are extruded.
• The eggs hatch into tailed aquatic larvae, known as
  tadpoles, that metamorphose into the adult form in a
  few weeks.
• Several toads differ from this method of reproduction.
• Some species lay eggs on land and lack a free-swimming
  tadpole stage, whereas in others fertilization is internal
  and birth is given to fully formed toadlets.
• Two species of toads found primarily in central and
  southwestern Europe are commonly referred to as midwife
  toads and make up the genus Alytes of the family
  Discoglossidae, these two toads are:
• The Midwife toad.
• The Mallorcan midwife toad.

• The Mallorcan midwife toad
  is a living fossil.
  
• It was first described as a new genus, Baleaphryne,
  from Pleistocene fossil material.
• It was later discovered that the species still
  existed on the island of Mallorca, which is part of Spain.
• The genus Baleaphryne was later synonymized into Alytes.
• This toad is an amphibian that only lives on the island
  of Mallorca, Spain.
• The species was first identified by its fossil record.
• Fossil remains of the toad were discovered on Mallorca
  in the 1970's, but it was thought that the toad had
  gone extinct 2000 years ago, following the introduction
  of snakes and other predators onto the island.
• Small remnant populations of the toad were discovered
  in remote gorges in a mountainous region of the island
  in 1980.
• At present, there are natural populations of toads
  living in 7 gorges, and in a few isolated ponds located
  above the gorges.
• In 1978, one midwife toad fossil was found in the
  Muleta cave, in Soller.
• Its scientific name comes from this Muleta cave's name
  Alytes muletensis.
• Locally it is known as the Ferreret, because of
  its cry that is monotonous and repetitive like a hammer
  banging on a blacksmith's anvil.(Ferrer is blacksmith in
  Majorcan).
• They live in the puddles of the torrents in the
  Tramuntana mountain ridge, a habitat that is totally
  inaccessible for its enemies: viperine snakes, toads
  and sometimes weasels.
• Its size is up to 4cm, from the head to the feet.
• Its colour is dark green spots on a pearl grey
  background or golden and black.
• It is a primitive, playful and very discreet amphibian
  that lives in colonies in some of the pools and streams
  in the wildest areas of the Serra de Tramuntana.
• The skin of the midwife toad is very poisonous and
  the mucous that keeps it continually moist can kill a
  mouse by simple contact. This venom is harmless to man.
• Like all amphibians they must live near the water
  to complete its biologic cycle.
• After a brief hibernation period it breeds in spring
  and summer.
• Of all European toads, the Midwife toad is without
  doubt the most remarkable, for its name describes its main
  peculiarity exactly, as it is the male that is occupied
  exclusively with the incubation of the eggs.
• It is the male that takes care of the eggs and
  carries them between its feet for 15 to 20 days.
• The male winds the strings of eggs around its back
  legs. Each strung of eggs has from 20 to 100 eggs and
  the incubation is 24 to 44 days.
• The eggs are dampened frequently in the water of small
  pools or puddles by the male. It will walk around with
  them like this until they hatch.
• When the larvae start moving inside the egg the
  male goes into the water where the eggs open and the
  larvae start swimming.
• They don't metamorphose and become adults until a
  few months or even a year later.
• Ferrerets eat small insects, worms and other small
  creatures that live under stones and in the cracks
  between rocks.
• The larvae eat algae and organic left-overs found
  underwater.
• This small-sized toad is distinguished neither by
  appearance nor colouring, it is its habits that
  are interesting.
• Unlike other frogs and toads that mate and reproduce
  in water in the spring, the midwife toad performs these
  functions on land.
• Its way of life is very secretive and it normally
  keeps itself buried in wet sand, emerging when night
  falls in order to find the insects and small mollusks
  on which it feeds.
• The most curious aspect of this life under the sand
  is that while it is buried the toad 'sings', and its
  pleasant voice, resembling the ringing of a small bell,
  can be heard without one being able to discover where it
  comes from.

TO HELP PROTECT THE
MALLORCAN MIDWIFE TOAD

• The Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust and the
  Mallorcan Conselleria d'Agricultura i Pesca are
  cooperating on a conservation project for the toad.
• The first place where it reproduced in captivity
  was in the island of Jersey, at the zoo created by the
  great naturalist Gerald Durrell.
• Captive-bred toads are released into new locations
  on the island.
• If the water supply in the natural habitat of the
  toad can be protected from pollution and extraction,
  the future of the toad on Majorca appears promising.

Background Sound: Mallorcan Midwife Toad Song

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Music From: I Will Survive>

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Last Updated: 12-April-1999
WebMaster: Daisy Moreno daisymoreno@HotMail.com
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved

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