- caecilians
- salamanders and newts
- frogs and toads

Then within these three orders there are 4,015 species, so there are all kinds of amphibians for us to take a look at.

One of the fascinating things about diversity in the amphibia class is the range of colors these animals exhibit. Amphibians have special pigment cells in the top layer of their skin, and often have the ability to change colors by adjusting their hormones.

Color changing like this is used to adjust body temperature, with amphibians switching to dark tones when they need to absorb more energy. It is also used to evade predators, and indeed to be more effective predators.  Although, in cases like the poison-arrow frog bright pigmentation is used to deter predators.

The official name of color changing for concealment is “crypsis” and color changing for warning is “aposematic coloration”.  There are some species that exhibit crypsis on their backs and aposematic coloration on their bellies; a good example of this is the oriental fire-bellied toad  (Bombina orientalis) which has a camouflaged back and a distinctive orange belly.

The South American false-eyed frog serves as a reminder that there are indeed all kinds of amphibians. This frog turns away from its attackers to display two spots that look like huge intimidating eyeballs. Then there are some frogs with colors invisible the human eye: Australia’s white tree frog has a nose that is only visible for eyes that can detect infrared.

Finally it is quite common for the male and female to be different colors so that amongst all the different kinds of amphibians, the males and females can quickly tell on another apart. Unfortunately that is not the case for all species and sexing can be quite difficult for some kinds of amphibians.

On now to albino frogs…
An albino frog is just a regular frog with a genetic defect that means it does not have skin pigmentation. There is nothing else that is different about the frog. But these glistening white amphibians capture the hearts of a lot of pet owners looking for something a bit different from the crowd.

So if you are familiar with regular frog behavior and how to care for them, then your albino won’t be any problem.

Are albino frogs healthy?
Just has human albinos have the same mortality as other humans, the albino frog has no special health issues. It is fair to say that in the wild these frogs don’t live as long as their colorful counterparts, but that is because they are more vulnerable to attack because they lack camouflage.

Human albinos are more susceptible to skin cancer, but myths that they are infertile and become blind in adulthood are simply nonsense, and don’t let anyone tell you that your albino frog isn’t perfectly healthy.
So is there no difference other than the white skin of albino frogs?

Sometimes an albino will look more pinkish than white because of the blood vessels running through the skin, and in addition to this the eyes may seem red because the retina’s blood vessels show through the iris. Your pet’s eyes will make quite sensitive to light, but other than that you don’t need to worry.

The African clawed albino frog as a pet
Pet owners looking for an albino frog often select the African clawed frog. This is an aquatic frog that has only been known to venture onto land in times of drought, and only then to get to a fresh water source.

One of the reasons it is so popular is that it is so easy to look after – it can share an aquarium with other frogs and fish that are of a larger size (it grows to up to 12cm), and does well on a diet of bloodworms, shrimp and the occasional guppy. Do remember though that this predator will eat anything smaller that it!

The African clawed frog is also known as Xenopus laevis, or platanna. If comes from Southern Africa, and gets its name from its clawed hind legs. It is thought that these claws developed to stir up mud on pond and river beds to hide them from predators.

You will find that your African clawed albino frog shares the same features as its normally pigmented counterpart: it has eyes with circular pupils sat on top of its head and pointed upwards, a flat and incredibly slippery body, no tongue or movable eyelids, no webbing on the fingers, fully webbed toes, and of course distinctive black claws.

The African clawed albino frog also has the same characteristics as its pigmented counterpart: its front limbs are used in feeding to supplement the lack of a tongue, calls are made from underwater due to a lack of a vocal sac, mating occurs by the male grabbing the female at the waist and using special black pads that appear on the males fingers during mating season to hold on during mating.

Albinos are pretty common within all breeds of frog, but the ease of keeping and African clawed frog makes it the number one choice for a pet albino frog. They don’t even require live food, which is a rarity in an amphibian pet.


Sexing your African clawed frog
Some distinctions to help you tell a male and female apart (whether albino frogs or not):

• Females are larger than the males, and broader
• Males front arms have dark stripes running underneath them
• Females have a tail-like stub which they use to lay eggs
• The male’s mating call is a whirring noise, whereas the female mating calls are a series of clicks, with the pace of the clicks communicating her readiness to mate

Click for more on all kinds of amphibians.

One feature of amphibians reproduction is that almost all frogs fertilize externally, but the sperm is deposited on the egg as it is laid, with the male frog holding onto the female with his front legs in a sex-like manner. There are some variations on this – frogs without front legs have to add the sperm after the egg is laid, and the narrow-mouthed frogs become glued together during fertilization. With the North American Tailed frog, it is the frogs tail itself which is inserted into female cloaca.

Eggs
Most amphibians lay their eggs (oviparous) rather than store them in their body (viviparous). Frogs lay between one and 25,000 eggs at a time, depending on the species, with salamanders up to a few dozen. The method of laying eggs varies from clusters, to strands, but common to all is the slimy coating that protects them. Of the amphibians that give birth to fully-formed young most are viviparous.

The eggs of amphibians reproduction are laid in all sorts of places, with each species selecting a preferred site from a range including: still water, running water, under rocks, under leaves, in the stem of plants, and mud homes build by the male.

Click for more on all kinds of amphibians.

These animals might be the smallest of the vertebrates, but they used to roam the world like they owned it! That pet frog in your hand is one of man’s most important evolutionary steps.

The Amphibia class is made up of three orders:

• Anura (frogs, toads)
• Urodela (salamanders, newts, sirens)
• Gymnophiona (caecilians)

The anura are made up of 3,094 species, the urodela 358, and the gymnphiona 163. That’s a lot of potential pet amphibians, but of course not all adapt as well to captivity as others, or indeed are as available.

Your Pet Amphibians Are Pioneers!
360 million years ago the Devonian deposits of Australia, and the freshwater beds of Greenland, saw the beginnings of the Amphibia. The Crossopterygii order of fish had bony fins, and it is probable that these fish are the ancestors of your pet amphibians. Crossopterygians also had lungs, and nostrils that allowed them to take in air from above water. These internal fish nostrils are known as nares, and were also found on the Ichthyostega of America and Europe. In addition the lungs and nares they also had an anterior and posterior brain. Although still fish-like in many ways these Ichthyostega were amongst the first amphibians.

So how did the amphibians make the leap from water to land? Traditional theory postulates that as ponds dried up fish were forced to slither across land to the next available water deposit. However, there evidence that the Devonian period was pretty tropical so this theory doesn’t really stand up.

An alternative, and more exciting theory, is that amphibians evolved as enhanced predators. The functional neck of the amphibian likely developed in fish that wanted to suddenly switch direction to grab prey, and it was this evolutionary step that facilitated the move to land. But why did these aquatic predators switch to becoming terrestrial?

Some possible explanations are:

• with all the competition for prey in the water, land provided a safe haven for laying eggs
• the water shall water pools were poorly oxygenated, thus encouraging the development of lungs to breath on land
• an abundance of tasty insects on land

These developments took place over millions of years, and fossils provide no clear answers. Some even suggest that the transition from fish to amphibian may have happened more than once. One thing can say is that the amphibians species are a key part of evolution.

Click for more on all kinds of amphibians.

Information about Amphibians: The Amphibian Body

Embryo
To start at the beginning we should consider the amphibian embryo. The first thing to note is that they don’t have shells, just a gelatinous layer that is not as strong as the protective membrane of higher vertebrates. The embryos are laid in water or somewhere moist, although a few rare amphibians give birth to developed specimens. Most of them produce a larvae like a frog’s tadpole, which rapidly develops into a full specimen.

Skin
The moist skin of the amphibian is common across the species, but it is the variation of skin types that is some of the most interesting information about amphibians. For example, some frogs actually have bone in their skin, and some caecilians have scales.

Heart & Lungs
The amphibian heart has three chambers, a left and right atrium and a ventricle. Most amphibians have paired lungs, but in caecilians the left lung is very small, and some salamanders have no lungs at all.

Skull
The flat skull of the amphibian cases just ten cranial nerves – the same number as fish. Extending from the skull’s maxillary bone are teeth. Information about amphibians often fails to reference that these branch-like teeth are attached to a fibrous tissue that allows the teeth to bend inwards.

Diversity of Body Movement
Despite these similarities in body type the amphibia class use their bodies for motion in a diverse manner. Whilst caecilians swim like fish, frogs have a stroke all of their own (the leg thrust swimming style of a frog results from its shortened vertebrae). On land too there are varying styles of movement, from the lateral diagonal movement of salamanders to the fold and extend “walk” of the legless caecilians.

Click for more on all kinds of amphibians.

A lot of folks come to this page after searching for “what is the difference between frogs and toads” or “difference between frog and toad,” well here we pull back the curtain on the world of amphibians to establish the truth behind the frog toad difference – there isn’t one.

Now then, now then, perhaps saying there isn’t one is a bit of a simplification so let’s take a more detailed look.

Scientifically speaking…
For an accurate scientific answer we need to consider how animals are classified. Firstly, there is a class of animal known as “amphibian” which has three orders, one of these orders is “anura.”

Anura is made up of what are commonly known as frogs and toads, but scientifically there is no distinction between the two, instead there are 20-25 families within anura each with its own characteristics.

Of these 20 or so families, the bufonidae family has around 300 species with the characteristics that we consider to be toad-like. Scientists, however, focus on the distinct characteristics of each of the 20 or so families, and don’t focus on the differences between the bufonidae and other families.

Practically speaking…
There are some physical differences that have led to us having the separate terms frog and toad, one that is clear for all to see is that frogs are beautiful, and toads are ugly!

Frogs have smooth skin, long limbs, and like to live near the water, whereas toads are stumpy-bodied, short-legged creatures, have a skin rough with warts, and prefer damp climates away from water. The difference between frog and toad is that the princess would never have kissed a toad!

Whilst some frogs are poisonous to touch, it is toads that are renowned for having pockets of poison behind their eyes. Furthermore, a toad’s eyes tend to be quite withdrawn when compared to the bulbous eyes of a frog. When it comes to reproduction frogs lay their eggs in clusters, whilst toads lay their eggs in a long string.

Finally, if one wants a clever answer to the question “what is the difference between frog and toad?” look no further than Nectophrynoides – a type of toad found in Tanzania. This toad is the only one of the anura to be viviparous i.e. fertilization is internal, and the females give birth to live young. Now that’s something that no frog can do, unless of course you are scientist that uses the generic term “frog” to include the bufonidae family!

Click for more on all kinds of amphibians.

When we look at the tadpole we can see that indeed the tail makes for an excellent way to move the young amphibian forward, in fact it is the only way they can move. We need to look at the way the adult moves to understand the absence of a frog tail –basically it would get in the way of the leaping motion that the frog uses to move across the land.

Of course most species of frog are also partially aquatic, so one might think that a frog would find a tail useful for swimming in the same way as fish use their tails to propel them forward. However, frogs swim in a breaststroke-like style that is quite different from other animals that take to the water, and the tail is not needed even in frogs that do not venture out of water.

At first glance it seems that because of the way frogs move on land they have no tail, and because they have no tail they had to develop an innovative aquatic movement, but we cannot conclusively say that is accurate.

Just what is it about the frog that made it evolve in such a different way to other animals with backbones?

One theory of the development of frog movement relates to the fact that some species of frog burrow (but in typical frog-like fashion they don’t burrow forwards, but backwards!) Being able to retreat backwards allows the frog to hide from predators, and gives it the element of surprise when it sights some prey. All frogs have an extra bone on the front of their first toes, and this is useful in backwards burrowing. Thus whilst only a few species of frog burrow backwards today, this extra toe bone points to the fact that such burrowing may have been the norm years ago, and a tail would certainly get in the way of such backwards movement. This is just a theory on the frog tail, and there is no consensus that this burrowing characteristic played such a major evolutionary role. In fact there is no agreement even on why frogs leap.

Some say that frogs evolved to leap in order to quickly seize prey when in the water, and as they evolved to make the move on land they just kept this movement. The other school of thought is that frogs only started to leap as a way to move quickly on land – proponents of this theory often suggest that observing other aquatic animals tells us that the development of hind legs for aquatic propulsion is extremely unlikely.

Safe to say, whichever theory you subscribe to as to why frogs move as they do, it is clear that there is no frog tail because it would interfere with the way they move.

Click for more on all kinds of amphibians.

Having an amphibian as a pet is having a conqueror – they were the first of the animals with backbones (the vertebrates) to make the transition from water to land.

These animals might be the smallest of the vertebrates, but they used to roam the world like they owned it! That pet frog in your hand is one of man’s most important evolutionary steps.

The Amphibia class is made up of three orders:

• Anura (frogs, toads)
• Urodela (salamanders, newts, sirens)
• Gymnophiona (caecilians)

The anura are made up of 3,094 species, the urodela 358, and the gymnphiona 163. That’s a lot of potential pet amphibians, but of course not all adapt as well to captivity as others, or indeed are as available.

Your Pet Amphibians Are Pioneers!
360 million years ago the Devonian deposits of Australia, and the freshwater beds of Greenland saw the beginnings of the Amphibia. The  Crossopterygian order of fish had bony fins, and it is probable that these fish are the ancestors of your pet amphibians. Crossopterygians also had lungs, and nostrils that allowed them to take in air from above water.

These internal fish nostrils are known as nares, and were also found on the Ichthyostega of America and Europe. In addition the lungs and nares they also had an anterior and posterior brain. Although still fish-like in many ways these Ichthyostega were amongst the first amphibians.

So how did the amphibians make the leap from water to land? Traditional theory postulates that as ponds dried up fish were forced to slither across land to the next available water deposit. However, there is evidence that the Devonian period was pretty tropical so this theory doesn’t really stand up.

An alternative, and more exciting theory, is that amphibians evolved as enhanced predators. The functional neck of the amphibian likely developed in fish that wanted to suddenly switch direction to grab prey, and it was this evolutionary step that facilitated the move to land. But why did these aquatic predators switch to becoming terrestrial?

Some possible explanations are:

• with all the competition for prey in the water, land provided a safe haven for laying eggs
• the water shall water pools were poorly oxygenated, thus encouraging the development of lungs to breath on land
• an abundance of tasty insects on land

These developments took place over millions of years, and fossils provide no clear answers. Some even suggest that the transition from fish to amphibian may have happened more than once. One thing can say is that your pet amphibians are a key part of evolution.

Click for more information on all kinds of amphibians.