Page 141 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

SURINAM TOAD 141

During the mating season, common Surinam toads like to get As the toads reach the top of an aquatic loop-the-loop, the
up close and personal, but it’s an acrobatic affair! female lays her eggs on the male’s belly.

On the next loop, the male fertilizes the eggs and rubs them Several more somersaults leave the female’s back festooned
onto the female’s back (on the brood patch). with eggs –and there they stay until ready to hatch.

For most frogs and toads, this whole remarkable process adult, meat-eating diet, rather than the vegetarian diet
begins with a tiny cluster of eggs, floating, in a protective they consumed as juveniles.
‘jelly’.Typically, eggs can be laid anywhere moist, but Not surprisingly, for such strange creatures, pipids have
those deposited in water are often left to develop with no their own unique ‘take’ on the traditional amphibian
adult help. From here, they progress to the larval, tadpole metamorphosis. Eggs are laid on the females’ back and
stage.At this point, the immature frogs and toads are sink into the spongy skin of her brood pouch.There they
completely aquatic and look more like a fish than remain, in a series of honeycomb cells, until they are
amphibians.They even have gills and a tail. Depending on ready to hatch. In some species, the young emerge as
the species, it takes from a few weeks to a few years for tadpoles and finish their development in the water. In
the tadpole to develop into a fully mature adult, which is species such as Pipa pipa (the common Surinam toad) they
when they tend to move on to land.These changes are emerge as fully grown toadlets, missing out the larval
more than just external.These amazing amphibians stage entirely. Such a remarkable reproductive cycle may
change internally too.Their skeletons are modified, lungs seem odd, but it ensures that the toads are more likely to
develop and their digestive tract is adapted to suit an survive to adulthood.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.