Florida bog frog facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Florida bog frog |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Lithobates
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| Species: |
okaloosae
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| Synonyms | |
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The Florida bog frog (Lithobates okaloosae) is a rare type of frog. You can only find this special frog in western Florida, USA.
Contents
Where the Florida Bog Frog Lives
The Florida bog frog lives in a very small area, less than 20 square kilometers (about 7.7 square miles). That's smaller than many towns! You can find these frogs in shallow ponds or small creeks. These waterways are connected to the East Bay, Shoal, and Yellow Rivers. They live in Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton Counties in Florida.
Most of their home (about 90%) is inside Eglin Air Force Base. This means that human activities, like military training, can sometimes disturb their homes. However, these frogs have shown they can handle some changes in their environment.
What the Florida Bog Frog Looks Like
Florida bog frogs are small, usually about 34 to 49 millimeters (1.3 to 1.9 inches) long from their snout to their rear end. Female frogs are usually a little bit bigger than males.
These frogs are light green and do not have any spots on their backs. If you look at their feet, you'll notice something special: the webbing between their toes is much smaller than on other frogs in their group (the Lithobates genus). This means at least three bones of their fourth toe and two bones of all other toes are free from webbing.
Male Florida bog frogs have a yellow throat. They also have larger eardrums (called tympana) on the sides of their heads. Baby frogs, called Tadpoles, are brown with dark spots on their tails and light spots on their bellies.
Florida Bog Frog Habitat
Florida bog frogs like to live in slow-moving water, like quiet pools and wet areas. These spots are usually connected to clear streams with sandy bottoms. They especially love muddy places that have lots of low-growing plants, like sphagnum moss.
The places where these frogs live need to be kept open. This often happens naturally when small fires burn through the area. If these areas become too overgrown with bushes and trees, the frogs will leave. Sadly, stopping natural summer fires that used to clear out these stream bottoms has caused many of the frogs' favorite breeding spots to disappear or get damaged.
Ecology and Life Cycle
Scientists didn't even know about the Florida bog frog until 1982! A scientist named Paul Moler discovered them while looking for another type of frog. Because they were found so recently, we are still learning a lot about how they reproduce and grow.
Male frogs make calls at night during the summer months. They often call in the same areas where other frogs, like bronze frogs, also breed. Female frogs lay hundreds of eggs at a time. They place these eggs on the surface of shallow water that is not still and is a bit acidic (pH 4.1–5.5). They lay their eggs during the spring and summer. The tadpoles then grow and change into frogs by the next spring.
See also
In Spanish: Lithobates okaloosae para niños
