African giant toad facts for kids
Quick facts for kids African giant toad |
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The African giant toad, also called the Congo toad or Cameroon toad, is a large type of toad. Its scientific name is Sclerophrys superciliaris. It belongs to the Bufonidae family, which includes many kinds of toads.
You can find this toad in many countries in Central and West Africa. These include Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, and Nigeria. It might also live in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
This toad likes to live in warm, wet places. Its favorite spots are lowland forests, wet marshes, and even plantations. Sadly, its home is shrinking because of habitat loss. Even though it's losing its home, scientists currently list it as a "least concern" species. This means it's not in immediate danger of disappearing.
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What is the African Giant Toad?
The African giant toad is a very interesting creature. It's known for its large size and unique appearance. These toads are usually active at night. They are very good at hiding in their surroundings.
Different Kinds of African Giant Toads
Scientists believe that the African giant toad might actually be a group of different, but similar, toads. They are found across a wide area in Africa, but not in one continuous stretch. Instead, they live in several separate groups.
Some experts think this species should be split into three different types. These include two subspecies and one completely new species. A subspecies is like a special group within a species.
- One proposed subspecies is S. superciliaris superciliaris. This one lives in the western Lower Guinean forests. These forests stretch along the coast from eastern Benin to Equatorial Guinea.
- Another proposed subspecies is S. superciliaris chevalieri. This one is found in the Upper Guinean forests. These forests are in countries like Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Ghana.
- The third proposed type is a new species called Sclerophrys channingi. This toad lives in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's famous for looking like a dangerous snake!
The Toad That Mimics a Snake
The new species, Sclerophrys channingi, is a special kind of mimic. It looks very similar to the venomous Gaboon viper. This is called Batesian mimicry. It means a harmless animal pretends to be a dangerous one to scare away predators. Imagine a toad looking like a deadly snake!
How Does the African Giant Toad Look?
The African giant toad is a big, strong toad with a wide, oval body. It has a short nose and a flat head. Its eyes are close together. The upper eyelid has a pointy, triangle-shaped edge.
It has large glands behind its eyes called parotid glands. These glands can produce a milky substance that helps protect the toad. Its first finger is longer than its second. Male toads have special pads on their first two fingers, which help them hold onto females during breeding.
The back skin of the toad can be smooth or have small bumps, like warts. The top of its head and body is usually light brown, yellowish, or pinkish. It often has a black V-shape mark between its eyes. Sometimes, there are dark spots on its back. A thin, light stripe might run down its spine.
The sides of its head and body are much darker than its back. Its belly is grey with white speckles. A thin white line borders its lower jaw. Its legs have dark bands on a grey or brownish background. The back of its thighs, and sometimes its sides, are bright red.
All these colors help the toad blend in perfectly with dead leaves on the forest floor. This is called camouflage. It makes the toad very hard to spot!
Differences Between the Toads
The new species, S. channingi, looks a bit different from the other two subspecies. Its lower belly is darker. The line along its spine is dark, not light. Its eyelid points are also less sharp. Scientists can also tell them apart by looking at their genes.
S. s. chevalieri is the largest subspecies. Adult males are about 12.7 centimeters (5 inches) long from snout to vent (the end of its body). S. s. superciliaris males are a bit smaller, around 12.1 centimeters (4.8 inches). The new species, S. channingi, is the shortest, at about 10.9 centimeters (4.3 inches). Female toads are usually larger than males.
Where Does the African Giant Toad Live?
The African giant toad lives in the warm, wet areas of Central and West Africa. In the western part of its range, it's quite rare. Here, it mostly lives in untouched forests near rivers.
Further east, you can find it in both untouched and regrown forests. It also likes dense bushes and even cocoa plantations. In these areas, it's more common, but still not seen very often. Some people think it might be more common than we realize. This is because it's active at night and its camouflage makes it very hard to spot!
What Do We Know About Its Life?
Scientists don't know a lot about the daily life of the African giant toad. They think breeding probably happens during the dry season, from January to March.
Female toads lay their eggs in streams where the water is calm. They likely lay long strings of eggs wrapped around plants underwater. Young toads have been seen in January in Nigeria and in March in Cameroon. Small toads, less than 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) long, have been spotted from February to October in other places.
These toads likely eat small creatures without backbones, called invertebrates. They catch these animals among the leaves on the forest floor or in the water. We know they eat ants. When kept by humans, they have also eaten snails, other insects, other frogs, and even tadpoles.
Is the African Giant Toad in Danger?
The biggest threat to the African giant toad is logging. Logging means cutting down trees, which destroys the toad's home. This is a big problem, especially in West Africa, where the toad needs untouched forests to survive.
In other areas, the toad seems to be more able to adapt. However, it still suffers when the dense tree cover is removed. In the past, people used to collect these toads to sell as pets. Even though this is now against the law, it might still happen sometimes.
We don't know if the number of these toads is going up or down. But because they live in such a huge area and there are likely many of them, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) says they are of "least concern". This means they are not currently considered to be at risk of extinction.
