Frogs

You probably know the fairy tale The Frog Prince. In it, a frog returns a princess’s golden ball, which has fallen into a well. The princess runs away, but the frog follows her all the way to the castle. He insists on eating from her plate and sleeping in her bed. Eventually, the princess throws the frog against the wall. She finds him horrible. But suddenly, a handsome prince appears before her—the frog had been turned into a frog by an evil witch. The frog might have looked like the one in the next picture. But he is certainly no enchanted prince. He’s just an ordinary pond frog. And witches don’t exist—and never have.

Like all frogs, a pond frog lives both on land and in water. In warm weather, frogs usually stay near sunny ditches, ponds, and lakes. When threatened, they jump into the water and hide in the mud. They can stay beneath the surface for a long time without coming up for air. That’s because frogs are amphibians.Amphibians can live both in water and on land. Out of the water, they breathe with lungs. In the water, however, they absorb oxygen through their skin and it passes directly into their bloodstream.

Some frog species spend the winter at the bottom of a body of water. There, they go into a state of hibernation. Their body temperature is only as high as the temperature of the water around them. Other frogs overwinter in sheltered caves. Their temperature also drops sharply.

With their long, powerful hind legs, frogs can jump long distances. Webbing between their toes allows them to move quickly underwater.

Frogs feed on insects, beetles, caterpillars, snails and spiders. They catch their prey with their long, sticky tongues. The prey sticks to it and is then swallowed.

Frogs themselves are food for many other animals. Grass snakes, adders, white storks, carrion crows, and polecats prey on frogs. Foxes also occasionally catch one. In some countries, people eat frogs’ hind legs as “frog legs.”

We are home to 7 species of frog. The common frog is usually brown and 7 to 10 cm long. The 5 to 6 cm moor frog is rather rare. The pool frog lives near larger bodies of water and grows up to 14 cm long. The light brown agile frog reaches a length of 6 to 9 cm. The edible frog grows to about the same size as the moor frog; females can also reach 7 cm in length. The pond frog grows up to 10 cm long, is green or brown, and is found almost everywhere there are ponds and pools. The European tree frog is bright green and grows to only about 5 cm long. The American bullfrog, which can grow up to 20 cm long, is also now spreading in southern Germany. The largest frog on Earth is the Goliath frog. It lives in West Africa, grows to more than 30 cm long and weighs around 3 kg.

The males of some frog species are real maestros. Especially in the evening and in the morning, they make a loud croaking sound. They do this to attract a female so they can mate with her. Females themselves remain silent. When frogs croak, they first take a deep breath, forcing the air into their lungs. As the air flows back out, it makes sounds that are amplified by a vocal sac and that we call croaking. The vocal sac is an outgrowth of the floor of the mouth. Frogs that croak loudly are usually pond frogs. The pool frog makes a chuckling sound, which has earned it the nickname "laughing frog". The common frog only growls, which is why it is sometimes called the silent frog. Frogs produce offspring in spring. Grass frogs and moor frogs begin in March or April, while tree frogs and water frogs follow in April or May. During mating, the smaller male sits on the larger female. Females lay about 2,500 to 3,000 eggs in the water. They do not lay them all at once, but in several clumps.

Clusters of frog eggs in the water are called spawn. The black dots in this mass are the eggs, from which new frogs develop. It takes about 10 to 20 days for larvae to hatch from the eggs. These larvae are called tadpoles. Since they live in water all the time, they breathe through gills, like fish. They have tiny little horny jaws and small lip teeth. They use them to nibble off algae, pollen and other suspended material. Fish and ducks prey on them, but water beetles and their larvae, as well as blackbirds, also enjoy eating a tadpole. About 7 to 8 weeks after hatching, the tadpoles first grow hind legs, and a little later, forelegs too. Their eyes and mouths now take on the shape of those of adult frogs. And then everything happens very quickly. Within a few hours, the tadpole’s tail disappears. A tiny frog is left. It is only about 1 cm long. This little creature first has to learn to breathe through its lungs. To do this, the young frog has to leave the water. 

In addition to the seven frog species, there are 14 other amphibian species here. These include salamanders and newts, fire-bellied toads and toads. Frogs and toads look very similar, but their body shapes make them easy to tell apart. Frogs are usually slender, with long legs and webbed feet. Their skin is smooth, and they can jump well. Toads, on the other hand, have round bodies, often covered in warts and bumps. Their legs are short and thick, they have no webbing between their toes, and they cannot jump well. Fire-bellied toads used to be called “fire toads.” They are usually only 4 to 5 cm long and have strikingly colorful undersides. They all face danger. Storks and herons prey on them, and sometimes so do geese and ducks. Traffic kills many frogs. That is why special signs are often put up to warn drivers that frogs cross the road here. Sometimes “toad tunnels” are built to help frogs, toads, and other animals cross safely to the other side.

Frogs

Frogs live near a ___.  When in danger, they jump into the ___. They belong to the amphibians. Outside the water, they breathe through __, and in the water, through their skin. The

Male frogs croak in the evening and early ___. The young of frogs are called

__. They hatch from __.

Fill in the appropriate words. Then copy out the text.

Eat and be eaten

Frogs fe___ on in___ts, beetles, caterpillars, snails and spid___ They catch their pr___ with their long, sti___ tongue. Frogs themselves ___ve as food for many other ani___s. Grass sna___s, adders, sto___ and ravens, among others, prey on th___.

Fill in the missing syllables and copy out the text.

Click the picture and read or listen to the fairy tale about a prince who has been turned into a frog and wants to win a princess’s love.

Images: Hamsterkiste (6), James Lindsey / CC BY-SA 3.0 (2), Christian Fischer / CC BY-SA 3.0 (1), pixabay.com (4), Piet Spaans / CC BY-SA 2.5 (2)