Common toad

The common toad is a small animal.

It has bumpy skin. It likes to hide in the day. At night, it goes out to hunt. It eats bugs and worms.

The toad lays eggs in long strings in the water. These eggs hatch into tadpoles. The tadpoles grow limbs and become tiny toads.

To stay safe, the toad makes a bad taste. This helps keep hungry animals away. It is a busy little friend.

The common toad is a small animal found in many places. It lives in most of Europe and parts of Asia.

It has dry, bumpy skin. It is often brown, olive, or grey.

Toads like to hide during the day. They stay under rocks or leaves. At night, they come out to hunt. They eat many things like slugs, beetles, and worms.

They do not have teeth. Instead, they swallow their food in big gulps.

In the spring, many toads meet at ponds to mate.

Females lay eggs in long, jelly-like strings in the water. These eggs hatch into tadpoles. After a few months, the tadpoles grow legs. They go through metamorphosis, which is a big change in body shape. Then, they become tiny toads and move to dry land.

To stay safe, toads have special parts behind their eyes. These are paratoid glands. They let out a bad-tasting liquid called bufotoxin. This helps stop animals from eating them.

Some animals, like grass snakes, are not bothered by the taste. However, most predators will stay away.

The common toad is a very important animal in many parts of the world.

You can find them across most of Europe and parts of western North Asia. They also live in small parts of northwest Africa. These toads are often hard to see because they like to hide. They stay tucked under leaves, roots, or stones during the day. They only come out at dusk to hunt for food in the dark.

Toads have a very interesting way of growing and living. In the spring, many toads travel to special breeding ponds.

The females lay their eggs in long, jelly-like strings in the water. These eggs soon hatch into tiny tadpoles that live in the pond. After several months, the tadpoles go through metamorphosis, which is a big change in how their bodies look. They sprout legs and become small toads. Eventually, these young toads leave the water to live on dry land.

Scientists have been studying these toads for a very long time. In 1758, a Swedish biologist named Carl Linnaeus first gave them a name. He called them Rana bufo. Later, in 1768, an Austrian naturalist named Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti changed their name. He placed them in a group called Bufo, which is why we call them Bufo bufo today. These toads belong to a family called Bufonidae, which are the true toads. Scientists still study how different types of toads are related to each other.

There are many specific facts about how a common toad looks and acts. They can grow to about 10 centimeters in length. Their skin is dry and covered in small, wart-like lumps.

Behind their eyes, they have two large areas called paratoid glands. These glands make a bad-tasting liquid called bufotoxin to stop predators from eating them. Most animals stay away, but grass snakes are not bothered by the taste.

In the wild, these toads usually live for ten to twelve years.

Common toads are part of a world you might already know. You might see them in your own garden or a local park. They eat many small things like slugs, beetles, and worms.

Because they eat these pests, they can be helpful to have around. However, they face hard jobs like losing their homes to new buildings. They also have to be careful when crossing busy roads during their yearly trips.

Even with these problems, they remain a very common sight in nature.

The common toad, scientifically known as *Bufo bufo*, is a widespread amphibian.

It is found throughout most of Europe, western North Asia, and parts of northwest Africa. This species is part of a species complex, which is a group of closely related species that are difficult to separate clearly. The common toad plays a vital role in its ecosystem as a predator of many invertebrates. While it is currently classified as "least concern" on the IUCN Red List, it faces local threats. These threats include habitat loss from draining breeding grounds and deaths during seasonal migrations on roads.

To understand the common toad, one must look at its unique physical traits. The toad has a broad head and a squat body that sits close to the ground. Its skin is dry and covered in small, wart-like lumps. A key feature is the paratoid glands located just behind the eyes. These glands are positioned obliquely, meaning they sit at an angle. They produce a noxious substance called bufotoxin, which serves as a chemical defense. When a predator attacks, the toad may adopt a defensive posture by inflating its body.

It raises its hindquarters and lowers its head to appear more intimidating.

This chemical defense is highly effective against many animals, but not all. Most predators avoid the foul-tasting bufotoxin, but the grass snake is an exception.

Other predators include hedgehogs, rats, and even certain birds like crows. Interestingly, some crows have been observed puncturing the skin to eat the liver specifically to avoid the toxin. In the water, tadpoles also secrete noxious substances to deter fish. However, great crested newts are not deterred by these secretions. Even aquatic invertebrates like dragonfly larvae can bypass these defenses by puncturing the tadpole's skin.

The life cycle of *Bufo bufo* is divided into three distinct periods. The first is the winter sleep, or hibernation. The second is the mating period, which occurs in the spring.

During this time, large numbers of toads migrate to specific breeding ponds. The third period is the feeding period. Females lay eggs in gelatinous strings in the water.

These eggs hatch into tadpoles, which undergo metamorphosis to become tiny toads. After several months of development, the juveniles sprout limbs and leave the water. They remain largely terrestrial for the rest of their lives.

Taxonomy, the science of naming and classifying organisms, has a long history with this species. In 1758, the Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus first named it *Rana bufo*. At that time, he placed all frogs and toads into the single genus *Rana*. In 1768, the Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti moved the species to the genus *Bufo*. This placed them in the family Bufonidae, known as the true toads. Scientists have since identified various subspecies and related species. For example, the spiny toad (*Bufo spinosus*) was once considered a subspecies but is now its own species.

Evolutionary studies provide a timeline for how these species diverged. A study from 2012 examined the phylogenetic relationships of the *Bufo bufo* group. It suggests a long evolutionary history spanning millions of years. About nine to thirteen million years ago, *Bufo eichwaldi* split from the main lineage. The spiny toad split off approximately five million years ago during the uplift of the Pyrenees. This geological event isolated populations in the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, the European lineage split into *Bufo bufo* and *Bufo verrucosissimus* less than three million years ago during the Pleistocene epoch.

The common toad is a highly efficient hunter that uses visual cues to find food. It is voracious, eating woodlice, slugs, beetles, caterpillars, flies, ants, spiders, and earthworms. It can even consume small mice. Because it has no teeth, it swallows prey whole in a series of gulps. It can see its prey in low light levels that are much lower than what humans can see. In the wild, these toads typically live for ten to twelve years. However, they have been known to survive for fifty years in captivity. You can determine a toad's age by counting the annual growth rings in the bones of its phalanges, which are the toe bones.