(It's toad season again):
Toads live 5 to 10 years
in natural ecosystems
Article:
Country diary: this toad is a familiar and fearless presence
Wenlock Edge, Shropshire:
After every revelatory sighting, it disappeared, as if it had hopped off into another dimension, to materialise here again a year laterwww.theguardian.com/...
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We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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"20 tons are killed annually on British roads alone. "
animalcorner.co.uk/...
TOADFACTS
Activity and Life Span
This toad is active from April to November depending upon the local climate and weather conditions. During their active seasons, they typically spend the day-light hours in their shallow soil burrows or under logs or within leaf piles. They emerge at night to actively feed on a wide variety of insects. The inactive seasons are spent in deeper, hibernation burrows that they dig into the soil profile.
In their natural habitats most American toads live for a year or significantly less. Successful (or lucky!) individuals, though, may live for 5 to 10 years in natural ecosystems and are thus able to reproduce (sexually maturity occurs after 2 to 3 years). In captivity, American toads are known to live much longer. One captive individual, for example, lived for 35 years before its unfortunate accidental death.www.psu.edu/...
The eggs of the American toad are laid in two strings and can hatch in 2–14 days. When hatched the tadpoles are recognizable by their skinny tails in relation to the size of their black bodies. They may advance to adulthood in 50–65 days. When metamorphosis is completed, the "toadlets" may stay in the water for a short period of time before they become mostly land based. Often entire groups of tadpoles reach the toadlet stage at once and a mass migration to higher ground takes place usually to shaded areas of mid range and upland forests bordering the marshes from where they bred. en.m.wikipedia.org/...
COMMON TOAD CONSERVATION STATUS UK
Common toads are not listed by the IUCN. Sadly, in their desperate bid for breeding sites, many toads are run over by traffic – 20 tons are killed annually on British roads alone. Tunnels under the road are an effective way of reducing this toll.animalcorner.co.uk/...
The Common Toad (Bufo bufo) is also known as the European Toad. ... The life span of a Common Toad in captivity may be as high as 20 – 40 years, however, in the wild, it is more
likely to be 10 – 12 years.animalcorner.co.uk/...
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Helping toads to cross the road
Toads | National Wildlife Federation.
nwf.org/...