Common Toad

• It returns every year to the pond where it hatched, guided by smell.
• Its parotoid glands produce defensive bufotoxins that can cause allergic reactions in people.
• It is the largest and heaviest amphibian in the United Kingdom.
• comportamientoIt can return generation after generation to the very pond where it hatched, even when that means crossing roads and other dangerous urban obstacles.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat and environment

Woodland, gardens and damp ground of Europe, north-western Africa and much of Asia

Birth weight

Tiny on hatching as a black tadpole

Size at birth

A small dark tadpole after hatching

Sexual maturity

3-4 years (the male generally a year before the female)

Gestation / incubation

Laid in water; 6-12 weeks of larval development up to metamorphosis

Litter / clutch size

Thousands of eggs laid in long jelly strings, not the compact masses other frogs produce

Life expectancy in captivity

Documented record of up to 36-40 years in captivity

Sources consulted: A-Z Animals; Animal Corner; Animal Kingdom; National Wildlife Federation; AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); ResearchGate (body length and maturity study)