Even More Frogtastic Facts

The eyes and nose of a frog are on top of its head so it can breathe and see when most of its body is under the water.

A frogs skin reflects the same amount of ultraviolet light as its immediate surroundings. This way it can protect itself from predators like snakes.

* Research has shown that ammonium nitrate can cause agonising death for frogs. This fertiliser is spread on fields in the Spring when frogs are migrating and they suffer a massive toxic attack if they come in contact with it.

* People who study frogs and toads are called herpetologists. Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles.

* Amphibians' eyes come in all shapes and sizes. Some even have square or heart shaped pupils. But
amphibians only see in black or white.

* Frogs cannot live in the sea or any salt water.

* The wax frog retains moisture in dry weather by producing wax from its skin and coating itself in it.

One type of desert frog can wait as long as seven years for water by surrounding itself in a type of transparent bag which becomes its first meal once the rain comes.

Many brightly coloured tropical frogs are coloured in this way to warn predators that they are poisonous.

* In recent years a painkiller with 200 times the power of morphine was found in the skin of a frog.

* There are more than 4,000 types of amphibian in the world, but Europe has very few, only 45 species.

* Common frogs vary in size depending on where they live. They are biggest in the Scottish Highlands.

* The male Darwin's frog takes the eggs into its mouth as soon as they show signs of life and they stay there until they emerge as fully grown froglets.

* Glass frogs are so called because they are almost see-through from below, due to the lack of pigment in the skin of their undersides.

* The golden dart frog is the most poisonous frog on earth and the skin of one frog could kill up to 1,000 people.