Most people know what frogs are, and many have very different opinions about them. Some find them fascinatingly beautiful creatures while others would just as soon have no contact with them. Frogs turn up in forests, ponds, meadows, fairy tales, and dissecting pans in biology labs, and their legs can sometimes be found on dinner plates in fancy restaurants. There are more than 7000 species of frogs and toads that exhibit a remarkable diversity of appearance and behavior.
Frogs and toads (terms used interchangeably in different parts of the world) belong to the order Anura, which comprises nearly 90% of species in the phylum Amphibia. We tend to think of frogs as leapers, but some move by digging into the ground, swimming, climbing, and even gliding. Frogs have a complex life cycle, involving completely aquatic larval stages with oxygen-absorbing gills. Through a fascinating metamorphosis, replacing the tail and gills with...
University of California Press