Yosemite toad Facts
Yosemite toad Facts
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| Interesting Yosemite toad Facts: |
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| Yosemite toad can reach 3 inches in length. Females are larger than males. |
| Females and juveniles are grey, yellowish or brown colored and covered with numerous black spots and blotches with white or creamy edges. Males are yellow-green or greenish-brown colored and covered with small dark flecks. Tadpoles are black colored. |
| Yosemite toad spends its life on the ground. It can walk, crawl and jump. |
| Yosemite toad is diurnal animal (active during the day). It hides under the piles of rocks, fallen logs or in the underground burrows during the night. |
| Yosemite toad is a carnivore (meat-eater). Its diet is based on ants, beetles, bees, wasps, flies and millipedes. |
| Yosemite toad is active only 4 to 5 months per year (usually from April, May to September). It hibernates the rest of the year. |
| Yosemite toad hibernates in the abandoned burrows of various rodents, dense thicket or in the clumps of vegetation that can be found near the water. |
| Yosemite toad has large round or oval parotid glands on the sides of the neck. These glands produce and secrete toxins that are used against predators. |
| Natural enemies of Yosemite toads are garter snakes, blackbirds, ravens, gulls, robins and large frogs. |
| Mating season of Yosemite toads starts early in the spring. |
| Males produce melodic calls during the mating season. These calls resemble the songs of spring songbirds. They are used to attract the females and to discourage other (competing) males. |
| Scientific name of Yosemite toad is "Bufo canorus". "Canorus" means "tuneful" and it refers to the melodic calls that can be heard during the mating season. |
| Female releases 1.500 to 2.000 eggs that male covers with sperm. Fertilized eggs are arranged in the form of long strings that look like black pearls. They hatch after 3 to 12 days. Tadpoles swim in the shallow pools made of melted ice during the next 7 to 9 weeks, until they complete metamorphosis into young toads. |
| Yosemite toad reach sexual maturity between the age of 3 to 6 years. These toads have low reproduction rate. Females lay eggs once every 2 to 4 years. |
| Yosemite toad can survive 12 (males) to 15 (females) years in the wild. |
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