Wood Frog - Sierra Club BC
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Wood Frog

CAN BE FOUND IN:

Wood Frog

Lithobates sylvaticus 

Appearance

Wood frogs are small frogs that grow to six centimetres long and have a black mask across their eyes and shoulders. They come in tan, brown, green or even reddish colours and have light bellies. 

range & habitat

Wood frogs are the only frog in North America that lives north of the Arctic Circle. They are found across Canada in marshes, wet meadows and other moist areas. 

reciprocal relationships

Wood frogs play an important role in ecosystem balance. They eat mostly worms, insects, snails, and other small creatures, but they have also been known to eat small frogs. As tadpoles, these beings eat algae and other plants. This contributes to balance in a pond system, as it prevents algal blooms and pond oxygen depletion. They also provide a food source for many other beings, including shrews, birds, and snakes. 

Their call sounds like a duck’s quack, and adults can scream when a predator is attacking them. Wood frogs dig into the soil to hibernate for the winter, and they can survive freezing temperatures because they have special sugars in their blood that stop them from freezing completely. Wood frogs start breeding in spring, and each female lays a mass of up to 3,000 eggs that look like pond algae. Tadpoles, once hatched, take about two months to grow into adult frogs. A wood frog can live for three or four years.  

Frogs are very sensitive to environmental changes, and any pollution or chemicals will affect them. Compared to other amphibians and frog populations, wood frogs have a fairly stable population. However, they are still prone to habitat loss due to development.  

status

COSEWIC: Not Reported 
CDC: Yellow 

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

Canva

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