Fowler's Toad

Fascinating facts about the Fowler's Toad

• Even a modest summer heat can shrink Fowler's toads. The adult toad is typically 5 to 9.5 cm (2.0 to 3.7 in) in head-body length. Higher temperatures produce smaller sized toads due to an increase in ectothermic metabolism with decreased resources. This size plasticity shows how tightly the species ties its growth to climate.
• A single male can flood a pond with up to 10,000 eggs, yet those embryos may hatch in as little as two days. Up to 7,000 to 10,000 eggs are fertilized. They hatch in 2 to 7 days. Fowler's toad reproduces in warmer seasons of the year, especially in May and June.
• When a predator bites, the toad's warty skin releases a cocktail of toxic bufadienolides that can kill small mammals outright. The secretion, containing toxic bufadienolides, is distasteful to predators and can be lethal to small mammals. This chemical shield not only deters birds and snakes but also makes the toad a lethal surprise for any curious rodent.
• Fowler's toads don't stay pure; they regularly swap genes with both the American toad and Woodhouse's toad, creating hybrid offspring that blur species lines. Fowler's toad regularly hybridizes with two of its close relatives: the American toad and the Woodhouse's toad.
• Even as it faces habitat loss, the toad got a national spotlight when Canada Post printed its image on a stamp, hoping to spark protection. On April 15, 2024, Canada Post released a stamp with a Fowler's toad to raise public awareness of these amphibians. It is considered a species at risk in Ontario, a species of special concern in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a regionally threatened or endangered species in the states of New Hampshire and Vermont. The stamp underscores how cultural symbols can rally conservation action for a creature whose breeding pools are vanishing under off-road vehicles and chemicals.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Fowler's Toad

In the warm, humid nights of eastern North America, the Fowler's Toad emerges from its subterranean hideaways, its warty, brown skin blending seamlessly into the shadows as it begins its nocturnal prowl. With a slow, deliberate gait, it moves through the underbrush, its golden eyes scanning the leaf litter for unsuspecting insects to snatch up with its sticky, projectile tongue. As it hops and crawls through its forest domain, the Fowler's Toad embodies a quiet, unassuming resilience, its very ordinariness a testament to the enduring power of adaptation in the natural world.

More amphibians to discover

Browse Feravox