Ok, so today we're gonna take a walk out to my backyard bond and I want
to show you some frogs here these are frequently misidentified what you're
looking at here sure it is a frightened upon in the United States northeastern
United States but is that a bullfrog or is that a green frog look what's
happening to this frog right here it's being fed upon by mosquitoes look at its
back why doesn't that frog Jesse those mosquitos yep mosquitoes will even take
blood from em phibian and that's what frogs are their infants they need to
breed in water this is a male is that a male green frog there's this a male go
frog this is actually a green frog is a male green frog and look at his tympanic
membrane that's the ear speaking there right behind the eye larger than the eye
that's a trait of the male and they also want you to notice a physical trait here
a lot of people you know they hear the frogs croaking and they're on the pond
and it's big and they think wow that's a bullfrog but it really isn't this is
just a green frog and there aren't physical differences that I've been
explaining this very well but I want you to appreciate number one the age of this
frog they're not very big but they've spent years as tadpoles before they ever
got to this phase and they reproduce in the pot this is a freshwater pond you
can also find them in slow-moving rivers and lakes and even drainage ditches and
things like that and you're gonna hear them at night croaking away and
sometimes when you scare them at the edge of the pond they make a little
tweet or burst as they jump into the water and those are usually the younger
smaller ones this is a mature male again this is a green frog my frog forget is a
yellow chin I'll show a trait of the man and it's mating season here we're at
getting into June pretty soon we're gonna see lots of eggs in the water and
they'll have tadpoles coming out of those eggs when they hatch in about
three or four days and everything's gonna meet them fish you're gonna eat
them frogs we're gonna eat the eggs even older tadpoles stat poles live two to
three years also of the pond before they ever get their hind legs there are a
couple of years old so when you're looking at dad falls that's not a fast
metamorphosis there this is spread out over time here's
another male croaking a little bit here ain't
guarding his area at nighttime don't leave the water and go right up on the
bank 5060 feet into the tall grass and they'll be hunting and defending their
territory and of course entering the water to mate if you see two frogs maybe
you'll notice that it will be the male on top and the female underneath and
fertilization takes place in the water so she'll push the eggs out and you'll
find little clutches of eggs which probably will show later on this spring
get you close up and show you those little tadpoles hatching out and of
course every kind of frog is gonna be in the water if you mate and again what's
that thing it's wrong kind of a green frog that's a green frog the green frog
is only get about three inches max so that's still a good size frog and then
you're gonna see a lot of them around and again I want you to notice this
Ridge I'll give you a better shot of it in another sequence here and I'll
explain that one of the most easily identifiable traits between the species
and here's a female a female green frog she is on this water lily here at the
edge and noticed that her tympanic membrane there right behind the eye is
about the diameter of the eye also notice that her bottom jaw is
cream-colored it's not yellow you guys see that Ridge
going down behind the ear there as follows that along the body this is a
trait as a male green frog so once again I'm not a bullfrog it's
just a common misconception you hear croaking it's on your pond it's large
then you think well frog but also you can see those dorsal area is going down
the back if it were a bullfrog that would follow around it but tympanic
membrane and just curve right down towards the four limbs there but instead
it goes straight back so that is the easiest parents you want to be a biology
genius with amphibians in your pond and point out these differences to your
friends now these aren't easy to catch these things are several years old by
the time they've grown their limbs and gotten rid of their tail they spent a
couple of winters under the ice and the ndef kumis they dig in and survive and
they feed off of that tail tree so their tails as tadpoles get nice and fat with
resources and that's how they store energy in their body and the first thing
to come out it's going to be those hind legs and then the four limbs and then
they're gonna climb out on to the bank that we come fully amphibious and
there's immature of frogs what do you think they eat they eat anything they
can fit in their mouths these little frogs will even eat tiny snakes I have
not seen them eating honeybees yet they come to the pond to drink they will eat
smaller frogs pretty soon there'll be toads breeding and those little black
tadpoles will hatch out and there's tiny toads will try to make it off the banks
and the frogs will be eating those here again another male gave a nice croak
there and they do a lot more croaking at night some people don't like frogs
because they do that if you want to sneak up on these and get a close look
at night look at this one right here the male or female it's another green frog
not a bullfrog and it's a female look at the size of her
here here I'm there behind your eye again it's called a tympanic membrane
it's about the same size as their I also turn under lip there is being colored
not yellow like this they're very easy to distinguish once you know the traits
you'll recognize them immediately beside also from the size bullfrogs get huge
and we're gonna show you one in a little bit here so you'll have a comparison
look at that right there is that a green frog or is that a bullfrog
this is a bull problem see that Ridge right behind the eye and it curves right
around the tympanic membrane and goes down towards the forelimbs instead of
extending straight down the back and that's a bullfrog and these get bigger
low frogs can be then at five to six inches long and here for comparison look
at the ridge again that's the green frog so very easy once you notice it once you
see it aside from adult size if it's a really big product chances are it's a
bullfrog so if that thing is five inches in length but you've got a nice big frog
there they're also slippery harder to grab the green frogs are easier to grab
I like to get right in the water and sneak up to them from the center of the
pond and scoop underneath they're usually aiming towards shore as
they are in these pictures and then this video sequences and there you go
bullfrog your green thumb no problem looking around it's now two and fewer
markings by the way and I solid green well you'll notice that the green frogs
actually have a green lip area and brighter around the mouth and then dark
with more modeled colors going down the backs of science in the ridge
it was prominent eyes how long do these things live you both frogs in your pond
that can live sake seven eight years and in captivity some people have kept them
as long as 13 years but in the wild I would say eight or nine years it's about
the maximum so these are old pond residents they're not easy to sneak up
on because they have survived many seasons they avoid mammals they don't
want to be my raccoon this is a look you don't want to see if you're a small bird
eating or bathing at the edge of the pond that's right a bullfrog can YouTube
they eat snakes they eat other frogs anything that goes in that mouth they
eat it in the tadpole phase though they're gonna be spending their time
swimming around and eating algae that's what they start off with here we go back
to the male green frog and as they get older they move on from eating algae to
eating the eggs and decaying matter dead insects they eat anything that swims
around in the water that fits in the mouth again but they start off on algae
and algae is easy so they go from herbivore to omnivore while their tab
goes so if you see a tadpole with hind feet and it still has that tail on it
of course which identifies it as a tadpole that's not ready a couple of
years old so hope you're learning something
looking at these champions you know a frog is not a frog a lot of different
species of frogs is great when you figure out what the differences are and
I don't recommend you grab them if you do make sure you have wet hands first
and the other thing is always wash your hands afterwards look at the ridges down
the dorsal sides of this frog here this is a male green frog large tympanic
membrane larger than the eye so we're doing it from behind here notice that
you can see the pupils of those eyes it sees you so if you're trying to sneak up
on them your best method for doing that is to go out there at night
and I also recommend getting a bread wrapper or something that has an amber
or red tint to it put that over your flashlight you can sneak right up on
them and keep in mind too at night they climb right out on the bank males defend
the territories at night and we're again at the end of May here going into June
is gonna be a lot of meeting going on so there'd be a lot of activity primarily
at night during the day they do croak as we can hear in this video but not as
much the chorus is much reduced at night you're really gonna hear them and you
can locate the big ones okay here's your test what are we looking at steady green
frogs or sent a bullfrog you're right it's a bullfrog just sit in the water
there's that Ridge following the line of the eardrum there and what's that right
there
note the size of her antenna grand brain same size of the eye cream colored chin
nice little markings going down and genders that Ridge following along the
top over a female that were just absent in the bullfrogs so hope you've enjoyed
looking at the pond today and maybe learning a little bit about the common
frogs that are found in northeastern United States
and remember they eat everything including other frogs it's a miracle
that they ever survived all these years to adulthood and those small frogs that
you're looking at are actually many years old and we're closing out here
with that frontal view of this bullfrog their nostrils breathing there again
when they start out as tadpoles they have gills and they can breathe
underwater and as they mature they become air breathers and they need to go
to the surface to survive thanks for watching the other thing is if you have
amphibians like this in your pond chances are the water quality is pretty
darn good enjoy nature in your own backyard and thanks for watching as
always