Page 20 - Amphibian

SNACK ATTACK Fast food
Birds, fish, insects,
spiders, mammals,
and even other
amphibians snack
on amphibians! This Most amphibians will eat almost any live food that
French earthenware they can manage to gulp down. Insects, spiders, snails,
plate, c. 1560, shows
a frog about to be slugs, and earthworms form the main part of the diet for
eaten by one of its
main enemies– a most adult amphibians. Larger species, like the ornate
grass snake. horned frog, will take larger prey, maybe even a mouse.
Some species are cannibals – cases of frog eat frog. There
are also specialist feeders – some smaller frogs
and toads eat only ants or termites, and one
Frog launching
itself toward species of Brazilian tree frog eats only berries.
prey
Aquatic amphibians, like the African clawed
toad (pp. 22–23), tend to hang just below the
LEAP AND SNAP FEEDING water’s surface, waiting for tadpoles or small
1 Frogs are more active feed- fish to swim by. All amphibians will gorge
ers than toads and will not
often sit and wait for their prey themselves if food is plentiful, to enable
– “see-it-and-seize-it” is their them to survive times when food
strategy. Launching itself toward a wood louse, this frog
has to judge with split-second accuracy the distance it is scarce.
needs to jump and when to open its mouth.

European common
frog going
after prey
Wood louse

READY FOR PREY
2 As the frog leaps
and its mouth opens, its
long, sticky tongue comes out to catch the wood louse.
Frogs usually go after fast-moving insects – like flies,
crickets, and grasshoppers. The frog only gets one chance
– if it misses it will have wasted its energy. Even the
slow-moving wood louse might fall, or get knocked off
its leaf, and escape, if the frog mistimes its jump.
Eyes still
open

Legs and
body at
full stretch

A BIG MOUTHFUL …
The ornate horned frog’s huge
mouth, camouflaged body markings, and sit-and-
wait feeding method help it take large, passing
insects, mice, and other amphibians by surprise.
When a horned frog opens its mouth, the whole
front end of its body seems to open up!