Natural History of Fowler's Toad

Common Name: Fowler’s Toad

Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Fowleri

            I chose to blog about Fowler’s Toad, because this is a toad very common to the area in which I live. I routinely find them camped out on my front porch, waiting to eat the next fly or spider that comes by. They always bury themselves inside our outside potted plants during the day, and are mostly active at nighttime. I would love to have taken a personal photo of a toad, but they are still currently in hibernation for the winter.

            Anaxyrus Fowleri, commonly known as Fowler’s Toad, is from the family Bufonidae. Females are normally larger than the males. These toads are usually gray or brown on their upper body and cream-colored on their underside, the ventral surface. Anaxyrus Americanus, the American Toad, are very similar morphologically; however, Fowler’s Toad has three or more warts for each spot on its body, whereas the American Toad has only 1-2 warts for each spot. The male usually has a darker throat region than the females, and also the males tend to have darker bodies overall than the females. Because of the similarities of Fowler’s Toad and American Toad, they regularly hybridize together and often live in sympatry.

            Fowler’s Toad is most common in Eastern North America, such as Tennessee, as well as on the banks of Lake Erie. The range of Fowler’s Toad consists largely of the Atlantic Coast. Almost any land habitat is suitable for this toad as long as the habitat has loose soil or sand that it can burrow into. The habitat must also have a plentiful amount of insects and spiders that it can catch with its long tongue; therefore, a forest habitat is the most highly suitable for Fowler’s Toad. When in the tadpole form of the Fowler’s Toad, it uses small teeth to feed on the algae located on rocks and plants located in its habitat.

            As with most toads, the life cycle of Fowler’s Toad consists of an egg hatching into a tadpole, which then develops into an adult toad. The life span of a Fowler’s Toad is approximately 5 years. In order to copulate, the male toad migrates to a breeding ground during the months of March to June. They use their loud, sheep-like call to attract females to the breeding ground, where they breed in shallow waters. This often attracts males, as well as females, to the breeding grounds. If a male toad mistakenly tries to mount another male toad, the other male will make a “release call”, and the breeding male will let go to search for a female. The female lays approximately 10,000 eggs after mating, and then the male discharges seminal fluid to fertilize the strings of eggs. The tadpoles hatch from the eggs in about a week after fertilization, and the tadpoles become toads when they are a few months old.

           

Works Cited:

Photo courtesy: http://www.pwconserve.org/graphics/wildlife/herps/toad_fowlers.jpg

http://www.nhptv.org/wild/fowlerstoad.asp