Wood frog
Lithobates sylvaticus
— Where the name comes from
Sylvaticus means simply “of the wood”, and Lithobates “stone walker”: a quiet name for the most extraordinary amphibian in North America. It is the only frog that lives beyond the Arctic Circle, and it manages it by doing something no other backboned animal does so well.
— Facts
- Group
- Amphibians · Amphibia
- Order
- Frogs and toads
- Habitat
- Damp woodland, bogs, temporary pools, tundra
- Range
- North America, from Georgia to Alaska
- Size
- 3.5–8 cm, 5–15 g
- Diet
- Insects, spiders, slugs, larvae
- Lifespan
- 5 years
— Characteristics
- 01
It wears a dark mask across the eyes, like a bandit.
- 02
It breeds before the pond ice has entirely melted.
- 03
Its call sounds like the distant quacking of ducks.
— What sets it apart
In winter it lets itself freeze. As much as sixty-five per cent of the water in its body turns to ice, the heart stops, breathing ceases and the brain shuts down: for weeks the animal is, to all practical purposes, dead. What saves it is glucose, which the liver pours in enormous quantities into the cells to stop them dehydrating and splitting, while ice forms only outside them. In spring it thaws from the inside and within hours is off again, hopping towards the pond.
