At the dacha, in the park by the pond, during walks in nature, my 6-year-old son and I often meet frogs, look at them with interest, and sometimes even try to catch them. But long-legged frogs timidly and cleverly hide out of sight. And then one day my son asked: is a frog or toad sitting in front of us in the grass. Upon returning home, I had to begin a detailed study of this issue... It turned out that the topic of differences between two amphibians is also being studied in 2nd grade primary school within the subject « The world» , therefore, we decided to summarize the results of our research in the blog article “Grandma’s Dacha”. Let's do it together compare frog and toad , let's define what similarities and differences are there between them. For clarity, the article will use many pictures and tables. Join us 😉

1. Key similarities and differences: Comparison of a frog and a toad.
2. The frog is man's friend!
3. Differences in tables.
4. Differences in pictures.

Frog or toad?

Firstly, let's start with the fact that the frog and the toad are still relatives. They belong to the same class - amphibians (amphibians), and also to general squad- tailless. Outwardly they look the same, but only at first glance. Taking a closer look, you can identify a lot of differences!

Table No. 1: Comparison of frog and toad

Table from the magazine “Garden with your own hands. A collection of practical solutions."

This table briefly, accurately and informatively reflects all the main differences between frogs and toads, and for a detailed comparison we will go through each point in more detail.

Attention! The last paragraph of the table is not correct in all cases. Some species of frogs (especially those that we see in gardens), like toads, lead a predominantly land-based lifestyle: these are grass frogs and sharp-faced (swamp) frogs. They overwinter, burrowing into holes with a lot of leaves, inhabiting rodent burrows and voids in the ground, climbing into rotten stumps, tree hollows, and basements.

Appearance

Similarities: It is not for nothing that frogs and toads are combined into one class and order. Their body structure is similar: both have a head, torso, hind and forelimbs, eyes, and there is no tail.

Differences:

— The frog’s body is covered with smooth, always moist skin. Toads have dry skin, with keratinized growths similar to warts (they secrete a poisonous liquid that repels enemies).

- IN middle lane Russian frogs, as a rule, have a gray-greenish skin color, with specks (speckled). The toad's skin is usually gray-brown, with a brown tint.

- The body size of frogs is smaller, usually up to 10 cm. Toads are larger - usually up to 20 cm in length.

— The structure of the hind legs is the most important distinguishing feature determined by the manner of behavior. Frogs are more mobile, active, love to jump and move precisely by jumping, so nature has endowed them with long, well-developed hind limbs. Toads are massive and slow, rarely jump, and mostly waddle, so their hind legs are poorly developed and are much shorter than those of frogs.

— The shape of the head of frogs is usually pointed, while that of toads is rounded. Frogs are much more “long-nosed.”

— Frogs breathe through their lungs and skin. Toads breathe only through their lungs.

— Frogs do not have large parotid glands, but toads do (located in the back of the head).

— Some species of frogs have teeth, but toads do not.

These are the main external features toads and frogs. I would like to note that in nature there are a huge number of their species, differing in skin color, size, and the special structure of some parts of the body.

Habitat

Similarities: Both toads and frogs love dampness and are able to move on the ground. Both lay eggs in the water.

Differences:

— Frogs love to be both in water and on land. Toads lead a predominantly terrestrial lifestyle, prefer to walk on the ground, and they only need water to lay eggs.

— Frogs live in and near ponds, rivers, lakes. Toads live in the garden, meadow, field, and forest.

— During the day, frogs prefer to sit in a pond, up to their necks in water, and go hunting in the late afternoon. Toads sit somewhere in a damp, secluded place during the day, and hunt at night (which is why we rarely see them).

— For the winter, frogs climb into the mud at the bottom of the reservoir. Toads overwinter in loose, damp soil, burrowing to a depth of about 10-12 cm, and also willingly climb into abandoned mouse or mole holes for the winter.

Note! Some species of frogs (for example, grass frogs) lead a predominantly land-based lifestyle, therefore, like toads, they spend the winter burrowing into the ground. We can often see such frogs in summer cottages and vegetable gardens. When digging up beds in the fall or in early spring you can accidentally discover an amphibian in the ground. Do not deprive them of the opportunity to overwinter on your site, because frogs benefit us by eating pests.

Behavior

Similarities: Toads and frogs are capable of jumping, but are active to varying degrees.

Differences:

— Frogs are graceful and agile. Toads are stocky, clumsy and inactive.

— Frogs love to jump and swim. Toads walk, waddling from side to side, rarely jump, and only sometimes make short, heavy jumps.

— Frogs prefer big ones noisy companies, and toads - loneliness.

— Frogs are very active during rain: they jump on the grass, sometimes in large quantities They jump out onto the asphalt, where drivers, unfortunately, crush them. Toads are indifferent to such a phenomenon as rain; it does not change their usual slow way of life

- Nature has not endowed toads with mobility and the ability to quickly escape from an enemy, but they have a special defense mechanism - poisonous glands (frogs do not have them). In toads, the largest venom glands are located near the ears, at the back of the head. They are sealed with special “plugs” and release poison only when squeezed. In addition, small poisonous glands are scattered throughout the body of toads, which repel enemies. If the toad is grabbed by a predator, all the small glands will reflexively release poison. It repels enemies with its taste, smell, and also causes vomiting.

Nutrition

Similarities: They feed on insects. Both eat mosquitoes, larvae, and worms.

Differences:

— Frogs eat mainly flying insects: mosquitoes, midges, flies, dragonflies. They are helped to hunt by a long sticky tongue and the ability to jump. Toads feast on slugs, earthworms, caterpillars, and beetles, so they do not need active movement and do not need long, developed hind legs.

— Toads and frogs themselves can become a delicacy for other inhabitants of wildlife (birds of prey, snakes, pikes and even foxes). But there are differences here too. Storks eat frogs, but will not touch the toad, because it has warts on its body that secrete a repellent, poisonous liquid. There is nothing to be done, this is the natural food chain, and amphibians are an important link in it.

Reproduction

Similarities: Eggs are laid in reservoirs, and tadpoles subsequently emerge from them.

Differences:

— Frogs lay eggs in the form of rounded clots of jelly-like mass, which floats on the surface of a reservoir or is attached to the leaves of aquatic plants. Toads, despite their terrestrial lifestyle, also need water to reproduce. Unlike frogs, they lay eggs in the form of long necklaces, entwining them with the stems of aquatic plants.

Interesting fact: Frogs remember the pond in which they were born and turned first into tadpoles, and then into little frogs. Having reached sexual maturity, they strive to get into their native body of water to lay eggs there. Frogs will recognize their pond even if it is covered with soil.

The frog is man's friend!

Frogs and toads bring great benefits to humans by eating harmful insects: slugs, mole crickets, wireworms, bedbugs, weevils, raspberry beetles, aphids, ants and many others. They are an important link in the natural food chain, and the loss of at least one of the links entails negative consequences.

Environmentalists are concerned: the numbers of some amphibian species are rapidly declining. The culprit is human activity, which is destroying the habitat of frogs and toads. Many reservoirs are being drained protected places are being laid car roads, car exhaust fumes, and agricultural pesticides poison them.

It's not just humans who pose a danger to frogs and toads. Their natural enemies are predator birds, snakes, hedgehogs, rats, storks, herons, cranes, pikes, perches, minks, ferrets, weasels, otters, foxes. Frosty Russian winters also prove fatal for many amphibians: only 5 percent of frogs are able to survive the winter.

Let's take care of the cute frogs by preserving environment! Don't push, don't hit them. The opinion that warts appear from frogs and toads is just a myth, a big misconception. And yet, touching some types of frogs and toads with your hands can be dangerous - they are poisonous.

Differences in tables

Generalized information about the similarities and differences between frogs and toads can be expressed in tables:

Differences in pictures

We hope our research and review of the differences between toads and frogs will help in completing homework. Write your reviews in the comments, we will be glad! 😉

According to the generally accepted theory of evolution, life on Earth originated in the depths of the world's oceans. For many millions of years, in a continuous struggle for existence, species appeared and disappeared, giving way to new, more perfect, possessing the best means for survival. AND for a long time for a great variety of animal species, the only home on the planet was water element. But the time has come and the development of land has begun. Desperate pioneers gradually, from generation to generation, changed, getting rid of unnecessary things and acquiring what they needed for a comfortable life outside the water: fins turned into paws, and gills were replaced by a new respiratory organ - the lungs.

Today nature amazes the imagination with its enchanting abundance and diversity of species, both in aquatic environment, and on earth's surface, and the past has sunk into such unattainable depths that it is difficult to believe in the plausibility of a theory if there is no indisputable evidence. But there is evidence, and these are not archaeological artifacts at all, but living beings with which everyone is familiar.

It's about class amphibians or amphibians. Science claims that representatives of this class are an intermediate link between fish and reptiles. And who makes up this class? Yes, the most common types of amphibians are frogs and toads. Indeed, in the life of individuals of each of these species, an amazing metamorphosis occurs: transformation from a tadpole living in water with fins and gills into a land animal, breathing with lungs and equipped with four developed paws. And isn’t this a clear demonstration of fish coming to land?

Interesting character traits, distinguishing representatives of the amphibian class from other animals. Among them highlight the main features:

• reproduction by eggs laid in water,
• breathing through gills - in the tadpole stage,
• transition to breathing with the lungs at the stage of leaving the water,
• ability to breathe on the skin surface,
• absence of hair, feathers or scales on the skin.

After getting acquainted with the class of amphibians, the question inevitably arises, what kind difference between toads and frogs. And it turns out that it’s not at all difficult to discern the differences, you just need to look closely.

Main differences between frogs and toads

Appearance

Exists several expressive external signs , making it easy to distinguish frogs from toads:

Lifestyle

Frogs spend most of their lives in water and hunt in daytime, preferring to catch flying insects or small waterfowl. After the evening musical roll call, they fall asleep until the morning. Toads, on the contrary, hide in the ground during the day, and go hunting at night, with great pleasure eating slugs, beetles, larvae and caterpillars, which, by the way, provide significant assistance to people in the fight against pests in gardens and vegetable gardens.

Reproduction

Both frogs and toads reproduce by laying eggs. If mucous lumps float on the surface of the reservoir, then most likely these are eggs laid by a frog. Toads lay eggs in the form of long threads that wrap around the stems of algae. Some species are known to take special care of their offspring.

For example, a male toad, common in Europe, winds threads with eggs on the foot and sits in an earthen hole, waiting for hatching to begin, after which it takes the offspring to a pond. And a representative of toads from Latin America is distinguished by the fact that it carries its offspring in a special depression on its back. This gives much more chances for the survival of the young, because there are so many lovers of fresh caviar in the water.

It is important to remember that all toads and frogs living in mid-latitudes are not only harmless to humans, but also very useful, and if you look at them more closely, you can see that they are very cute.

Toads and frogs, many want to know how these amphibians differ and whether there is at least some difference between them. People confuse them because they are similar in appearance, are amphibious, and are not very pleasant to look at. In fact, the difference is very big. They have their own characteristics by which they can be distinguished. How can they differ?

How is a frog different from a toad?

More about frogs

The frog is an animal of the order Anura, which inhabits almost all countries. Lives up to fifteen years. This tailless creature loves a bright, nice, sunny day more than a dark evening. Why hunt for insects at night when you can hunt during the day and relax at night and in the evening. In an individual long legs, which are designed for jumping. She is quite timid; when she sees a threat, she immediately runs away at the first opportunity. To get to your food, you just need to pull out your long tongue and guess the moment when to eat. The frog has its own uniqueness, it can breathe through skin. Despite the fact that her body is small, her head is large and she is always in an elevated position.

The color of an animal consists of a combination of colors

• yellow
• green
• red

Caviar looks like small round lumps, wrapped in a mucous layer. An individual always begins its frog life in water. From the eggs that she laid in the water, a small tadpole develops, and when it is born, it is very similar to a fry. For example, an amphibian bovine species, individuals of which are capable of laying more than twenty thousand eggs, from which tadpoles emerge. Only when the little frog becomes more like adult frog, he comes to land.

Frogs never do not go far from bodies of water. Tailless babies move around different ways. In the environment natural habitat These animals can jump, swim and dig holes. The skin of these amphibians is bare and covered with mucus, so the activity of this animal is highly dependent on humidity and air temperature.

Who are toads

The toad is a large amphibian animal. They can live more than thirty-nine years. In various fairy tales, this nasty animal is a bad symbol and is often associated with a freak character. The main injustice is that people are compared to this disgusting creature. And if you remember how much benefit this unfortunate creature brings, then you really feel sorry for the animal. Toads have a rather dense build. Scattered on the skin poison glands. The parotid glands are located behind the eyes; they are safe for humans as they do not secrete poison.

When she sees a person, she remains in place thanks to her skin, which protects her. A toad, of course, is different from a frog, it is larger, but the head of this person is smaller than that of a small frog. Another difference between the toad is that it cannot jump deftly and moves very slowly.

Toad goes out hunting in the evening hiding in the grass and looking for tasty insects. After all, she doesn’t like the heat of the day. She has short tongue, so she will have to get close enough to the food and somehow push it into her mouth. It is much more difficult for an individual to eat an insect, because it has to make slow movements to catch food. And if the insect flies away, the toad will have to chase it while it is in its field of vision.

The individual does not have a chest, that is, if you touch the front legs, you can find a special softness.

They lay out their eggs in the form of small ropes. The eggs are found at the bottom of reservoirs or shrouded in underwater plants. Their tadpoles are also at the bottom, as are their eggs. When the tadpoles have already grown up, they come to land and enter only when they need to lay eggs. In one year a toad can lay out ten thousand eggs.

Its color is dull and dull, making it almost impossible to find at night.

Differences between a toad and a frog

Even our ancestors knew the difference between a toad and a frog. And they knew that all individuals are useful for life because they catch insects. And even now, some people use animals as a mosquito repellent.

Many people do not even suspect that the words “toad” and “frog” are not synonyms, but refer to two different animals. Although there are also similarities between them, and considerable ones at that. After all, these are still relatives - amphibians, that is, amphibians. They arose in one era, in Devon, approximately 385 million years ago. Then conditions appeared on our planet for living creatures to come out of the water onto land and begin to develop it. This is how amphibians appeared, the order Anura. They spend infancy and childhood in the water, and then live on land. After all, the gills of a tadpole are eventually replaced by the lungs of an adult animal. But what is the difference between a toad and a frog? Let's study this issue.

Difference in appearance

Both toads and frogs are cold-blooded vertebrates. Anura, the name of the order, is translated from Greek as “tailless”. This indicates that in adults the part of the body that is present in tadpoles disappears. In general, this order includes more than 5,250 species of toads and frogs. Some of them combine the features of two animals. But scientists also classify species that are called “true toads” and “true frogs.” This is a kind of standard for establishing differences between two animals. The first thing that distinguishes a toad from a frog is a squat body and a short head. It does not jump, but moves awkwardly with all four legs, while the frog pushes off with its hind legs. The toad has dry, bumpy skin. The frog always feels wet to the touch. This is explained by the fact that, along with the nasal opening, it can also breathe through the skin. In general, frogs are more graceful, dexterous in appearance, with an elongated silhouette. Some people are disdainful to pick up toads: they are too warty.

Difference in habitat

Let's see where they live. In this sense, it is easy to determine how a toad differs from a frog. The latter always needs a reservoir. Despite the fact that frogs crawl out onto the ground, they do not move far from a pond or a quiet river backwater. Toads are found in forests, fields, meadows, steppes and even deserts. During the breeding season, they travel a long way - sometimes several kilometers - to get to a reservoir and lay eggs there. But in ordinary life, toads live in burrows that they dig in the ground. There they spend the winter. And even near bodies of water, frogs and toads behave differently. The first ones, spread out on their bellies, lie in the water or at its very edge. And the toads sit, hidden, on the shore. However, they are also found. Thanks to the suction cups on their toes, they can expertly crawl through trees.

Difference in diet

Another difference between a toad and a frog is their lifestyle. The green inhabitants of ponds and lakes are most active during the day. In the evening they arrange a loud “roll call”, after which they fall asleep. Toads go hunting in the evening. Rummaging in the grass, they look for insects, slugs, and butterflies. People should be grateful to toads for at least the fact that they eat mosquitoes in large quantities. Both toads and frogs hunt in the same way - with the help of a long tongue, sticky at the tip. The movement of capturing prey occurs so lightning fast that the human eye is not able to catch it. A moment - and the toad is sitting motionless again. By the way, these amphibians even eat those caterpillars and bugs that birds abhor. Therefore, they can be called real assistants to the gardener. But the toad, unlike the frog, has no teeth at all. And they are of no use to the latter - after all, they are located only on the upper jaw.

The difference between a toad and a frog is in the method of reproduction

Of course, the vast majority of amphibians reproduce by laying eggs. For this they need water. But the egg laying of toads and frogs are different in appearance. If you see a bubbly jelly-like mass on the surface of the pond, rest assured that these eggs were laid by frogs. Toads lay eggs like a cord. They wrap its end around seaweed. Sometimes it seems that this is a branch of an underwater plant swaying with the current. This is how toads save their future offspring from fish. And some species even do this: the female lays eggs with a cord that she wraps around her husband’s paw. He sits in a hole in the earth and waits for the hour when the tadpoles should hatch. Only then does he move towards the pond. A species of toad that lives in Latin America, carries masonry in special cavities filled with liquid on its back. And one more difference between a toad and a frog: the former has special parotid glands in the back of the skull - parotids. There the animal accumulates poison, making it unpalatable to predators.

There are a lot of these traits that make the two animals similar. They belong to the category of cold-blooded animals, amphibians. They live both on land and in water. They have webbed feet. Both lay eggs, from which tadpoles are born. The young are practically indistinguishable from each other. Only when the tadpoles' tails fall off and their paws grow do the young toads leave the pond and rush into the depths of the forest, while the frogs remain near the lake. The period of egg development and the duration of childhood also coincide. But the statement that earthy coloring is the main difference between a toad and a frog is incorrect. The colors of these animals can be completely different. In the tropics there are toads of very bright colors, although in our latitudes they are actually brownish-gray or olive in color.

Myths about toads and frogs

There are many incorrect signs about how a toad differs from a frog. For example, that the first significantly more than the second. It is not true. There are very large frogs. For example, Goliath, found in West Africa, weighs about three kilograms and reaches a length of 90 centimeters.

It is also untrue to say that frogs are absolutely harmless. It depends on the species. For example, the cocoi frog can kill a person with just its touch. But our toads produce a secretion in their glands called bufotein, which causes profuse salivation in animals that have tried to bite into an amphibian, but is not harmful to human health.

For many of us, the appearance of toads, like frogs, is not the most pleasant sight. But, nevertheless, it must be admitted that toads are indispensable helpers in personal plot during the ripening of berries and fruits, during the harvest of vegetables. So which of them, a toad or a frog, is good for humans? How does a frog differ from a toad - appearance, size or other characteristics?

Similarities between a toad and a frog

Before considering how a frog and a toad are similar to each other, it is necessary to mention that they belong to the amphibian family. Both the frog and the toad love dampness and water. Both the toad and the frog have webbed feet, thanks to which they can swim quite well. The main food of frogs and toads is insects, which they swallow whole without chewing. That is, the way of digesting food in toads and frogs is the same.

Almost there, the similarities between frogs and toads end, with the exception of one more fact - frogs and toads lay eggs in water. But the method of laying offspring is somewhat different. Yes, the toad does not live in water, but only returns there to lay eggs.

Differences between a toad and a frog

Since there are many more differences between a toad and a frog than similarities, let’s look at them in more detail.

1. The first difference between a frog and a toad is their appearance. The toad has short hind legs and is squat. The toad is larger than a frog, with a flatter and heavier body, with its head located close to the ground. The frog has a larger head, although its size is much smaller than that of the toad. Moreover, the frog's head is always raised.
2. The skin of a toad has a warty structure, and this creature does not jump, like a frog. Please note that the skin structure of these amphibians is completely different - the toad has dry skin, while the frog has slippery skin. You can also tell by color where the toad is and where the frog is, since toads have light skin on their tummy, and the frog has a color similar to aquatic vegetation.
3. Another significant difference between a toad and a frog is their habitat. It was mentioned above that both amphibians prefer water, but if the frog constantly lives in water, then the toad lives on land, in a damp and damp place. She returns to the water (where, by the way, she is born) to lay eggs to breed. According to experts, the frog never leaves the place of its birth. She will live “until old age” in the body of water where she was born. Therefore, most often a frog can be found on the banks of rivers and lakes, and not in a garden, like a toad.
4. It should be noted that a toad lays eggs in a completely different way than a frog, therefore this characteristic is distinctive feature between these amphibians. In addition, toads lay much fewer eggs in one season than frogs, since the reproductive functions of the toad's body are much lower than those of frogs.
5. Toads have no teeth. Some species of frogs have teeth, but not all, and if a frog has teeth, they are located only on the upper jaw. It is for this reason that both the toad and the frog swallow their food whole. Thus, comparing a toad and a frog showed us how different these amphibians are from each other.

Is toad good for humans?

It turns out that our descendants even knew how useful a toad could be on the farm. They knew how a frog differs from a toad, so they never put a frog instead of a toad in a vessel with milk. The fact is that the skin of a toad contains substances that are deadly to insects, but absolutely harmless to humans. It turns out that the skin of a toad has bactericidal properties, which our ancestors used to store milk in hot weather. They put the toad in a vessel with milk, and it did not turn sour long time. Today no one holds such an event, but, nevertheless, this property is very interesting for modern people.