Mr. Wood Frog

Here is a picture of a Wood frog we caught at my dads house. As we usually do we took him to our house and enjoyed him for a few days before releasing. This one was quite large, actually one of the largest I've seen, and about as big as they get. My dads house abuts wetlands, as does our so this guy will do just fine in his new surrounds. As a matter of fact it's been 3 weeks since we let him go and he's still out there. I've come across him several times, which is what we were hoping for.

The Wood Frog is most easily recognized by its "robber mask." This black band stretches past both eyes to the eardrums. Wood Frogs also have dorsolateral ridges, two raised lines running down their back and a white belly. Because Wood Frogs spend a lot of time on land, the toes on their front legs are not fully webbed. You can tell males from females by their swollen thumbs

Wood Frogs are very active, and can jump farther than most frogs. To hunt, they can ambush prey, like most frogs. Wood Frogs eat beetles, flies, caterpillars, and other insects; and also spiders, other arthropds, slugs, snails, and worms.

Predators of Wood Frog eggs and tadpoles include leeches, fish, and aquatic insects. Adults are eaten by raccoons, owls, and other animals

When winter's snow is all but gone, leaving ponds and ditches brimming with melt water, wood frogs emerge from hibernation and get right to the business of breeding. Wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) are among the first amphibians to breed each year, starting as early as mid-April.

Note: Boreal Chorus Frogs, Spring Peepers, and the Blue-Spotted Salamander, are a few examples of animals that also breed right after the snow melts.

Wood frogs are truly remarkable little creatures. They are the most widely distributed amphibian in North America, even reaching beyond the Arctic circle! They can mature from egg to transformed frog in as little as 45 days. But perhaps their greatest feat is the unique way in which they spend winter... frozen solid!

Wood frogs are members of a rather exclusive club of vertebrate (back-boned) animals that overwinter on dry land and survive the freezing of their body tissues. World-wide there are only a few species of vertebrates that can tolerate freezing. (Baby painted turtles are the "highest" vertebrates known that can tolerate tissue freezing). Though this feat is "no big deal" to many plants and invertebrates (lots of insects do it), it is a neat trick that enables wood frogs to inhabit many northern environments and frees them from dependence on permanent bodies of water.

The Swallowtail Chrysalis is just one example of an insect that winters in it's pupal or chrysalis stage. Some insects overwinter, and deal with the cold as adults, some as pupae, some as eggs and even some as caterpillars.