DIFFERENT SPECIES OF DA FROG

There are over 3,000 different species of frogs and toads, there's just about every color in the rainbow. Shades of green and brown are most common -- these colors help frogs blend in with their surroundings. Solomon Island leaf frogs take camouflage to a higher level: they have both the color and pointed shape of dry leaves, making them almost impossible to find on leafy ground. Not all frogs try to blend in. Especially in the tropics, there are wildly colored frogs of yellow, blue, orange, red, and purple, often patterned with bold stripes and spots. These bright colors serve as a warning to predators: "Don't eat me; I'm poisonous." Some nonpoisonous species of frogs have adopted the colors of poison dart frogs to trick predators.

Some frogs can change their color, chameleon-like, according to light, temperature, humidity, or even mood. Fear or excitement makes many frogs and toads turn pale, but others, like the African clawed frog, darken when disturbed. Another African frog is normally green, but turns white in the heat of the day to reflect heat and keep cool. The tiny African arum frog is ivory white and lives in the white blossoms of the arum swamp lily. When the blossoms die, the frogs turn brown to match.

Color changes like this are created by special pigment cells called chromatorphores. Inside these cells, grains of pigment cause color changes by shifting their distribution. When the grains are packed together in the center of each cell, the frog is light colored. When the pigment grains spreads out in each cell, the frog's color darkens.

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF ASSORTED FROGZ...

BullfrogAlbinoBullfrog TadpolePeeper
TadpoleUniacke Lake FrogWood Frog TadpoleCalifornia Tree Frog

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