Vocabulary
- Amphibian – a group of cold-blooded vertebrate animals.
- Ectothermic – rely on outside heat for internal temperature.
- Vernal Pool – seasonal wetlands covered by shallow water.
Fun Facts
- In winter, Wood Frogs curl into balls in the leaf litter and freeze completely looking like “frogsicles.” They are not damaged by freezing and do not use any energy while frozen When they thaw in spring, they still have all the body fat and muscles that they had before freezing, so they are ready to start the next generation.
- Wood Frogs can recognize siblings and gather together when tadpoles to defend territory and protect each other from predators.
- When laid in early spring, Wood Frog eggs can take 90 days to hatch into tadpoles. Eggs laid in late spring or early summer take as little as 9 days to hatch. The eggs have to metamorphosize from eggs to tadpoles to frogs before the vernal pool dries up.
- Wood Frogs live in the woods, but lay their eggs in vernal pools—pools that dry up in the summer.
- Wood Frogs lay their eggs before other frogs. This gives their tadpoles an advantage because they eat the eggs that other amphibians lay in the same vernal pool.
