Green Toad (Bufotes viridis) lives in dry open areas across Southeastern Europe, Western Asia. It feeds on insects and invertebrates. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
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The European green toad defends itself by releasing potent toxins from the large glands behind its eyes. These chemicals are strong enough to kill most animals that attempt to eat the toad, providing an effective chemical shield against predation. Humans, however, experience no harmful effects when the skin secretions touch them, making the defence safe for people.
In a rare observation from Russia, a European green toad was seen seizing a common pipistrelle bat, showing that the amphibian can occasionally prey on small mammals. The encounter was recorded as a direct attack, confirming that the toad is capable of engaging vertebrate prey under certain circumstances. Such behaviour highlights the toad's opportunistic diet beyond its usual insects and invertebrates.
Female European green toads produce a single clutch containing between 9,000 and 15,000 eggs, a remarkably high reproductive output for a small amphibian. The females are noticeably larger than the males, a size difference that often accompanies the large clutch size. This combination of size dimorphism and prolific egg laying enhances the species' chances of successful reproduction each breeding season.
Historically the species spread east through the Middle East and Central Asia, reaching western China, Mongolia and northwestern India. Its southern limits extended through Italy, the Mediterranean islands and down to North Africa, illustrating a vast former distribution. Today it inhabits steppes, mountainous regions, semi-deserts and even urban areas across mainland Europe from far eastern France and Denmark to the Balkans, European Russia and the Caucasus.
The European green toad can alter its skin colour when temperature or light levels change. Its dorsal spots vary from green to dark brown and may include red, while the underside remains white or very lightly coloured.
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In the warm, golden light of a Mediterranean evening, the green toad emerges, its warty skin a mesmerizing mosaic of olive and brown, as it moves with a slow, deliberate gait, its sturdy legs propelling it through the underbrush with a quiet, unassuming purpose. As it navigates its arid, rocky realm, the green toad's remarkable ability to estivate, sealing itself within a protective cocoon of dry skin, allows it to survive the harsh, desiccating summers that would be lethal to lesser creatures. With its curious, blinking eyes, this humble toad surveys its domain, a tiny, unobtrusive monarch of the sun-baked landscape.
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