Tailed Frog - Sierra Club BC
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Tailed Frog

CAN BE FOUND IN:

Tailed Frog

Ascaphus truei 

Appearance

Tailed frogs grow one to two inches long and are dark brown. The males have a small tail used for mating. They can’t make any noise, but they can sense vibrations in the water with their skin. 

Range & Habitat

The tailed frog can be found in undisturbed cool, fast streams in southwestern B.C., Washington, Oregon and California. In B.C., this animal lives in the Georgia Depression and Coast and Mountains ecoprovinces. 

Reciprocal relationships

They are one of the longest living frogs in the world! The adults don’t mate until they are seven or eight years old, and some tailed frogs can live for 20 years. Their food is found on land and in the water, including insects and worms. They search for food mostly at night. Tadpoles and eggs need clean streams to survive because their eggs and gills cannot absorb oxygen from the water if they are covered in dirt. Adults stay in the stream most of the time, but will hop into the forest on wet days to look for food. 

Tailed frogs are endangered because they have very specific habitats! They only live in and near cool, clear, mountain streams with year-round flow and high oxygen content. Their eggs will not survive unless these conditions are met, which is becoming more difficult due to climate change.

Tailed frogs are vulnerable to human disturbances, such as forestry and road building. These activities can damage breeding streams by removing vegetation (streams are too warm without shade vegetation) and adding silt to streams. 

status

COSEWIC: Special Concern 
CDC: Blue 

more information

If you belong to a First Nation with a story or piece of information not represented here and you would like to share more about this species, please email us at education@sierraclub.bc.ca. 

photo credit

TheWanderingHerpetologist

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