Frog Characteristics
What are frogs?
Frogs belong to a group called vertebrates known as amphibians. Amphibians are cold-blooded animals that can live in both water and land. Frogs display mutations or population declines in response to ecosystem changes before many other species making them excellent indicators of environmental damage.
Frog Eyes
Frog eyes bulge out on the side of their heads allowing them to see all directions. Frogs can even see behind them without moving their heads. Each eye has three eyelids: an upper and lower lid and a transparent lid that protects the frog's eyes.
When eating a large amount of food, frogs blink their eyes to help squeeze the food in their mouths into their throat.
Frog ears
Frogs can hear using big round ears on the sides of their head called a tympanum. Frog ears can be seen behind their eyes. You can often tell the gender of a frog by looking at the size of their ears relative to their eyes. If the ear is smaller than the eye, the frog is a female. Male frogs have ears that are the same size or bigger than the eyes.
Frog Skin
A frog’s skin is usually moist and thin. It does not have scales, hair, or other protective features. Instead of drinking water, they absorb it through their skin. Glands in the skin secrete mucus to help keep the skin moist. Frogs also have glands that produce poison to help them escape from predators.
Click to watch a movie about frog skin.
Frog Poison
Most poisonous frogs emit only a mild poison. Mildly poisonous frogs are usually harmless to humans. Some frogs, however, such as the poison dart frogs of Central and South America can kill almost all predators with its poison.
Click to view the dart poison frog webcam at the Museum of Science in Boston
