Ribbit or Oink? Natural History: Lithobates grylio

About two weeks ago at Caw-Caw Interpretive Center a pig frog was found hopping around which gave a herpetology class a unique opportunity to learn more about these cool frogs.  The pig frog, or Lithobates grylio, was the largest frog of the day being about 4 inches long from snout to vent and was green but also had a coloration that perfectly blended in to its surroundings.  I personally did not get to identify whether or not it was a male or a female, but judging by how often it was trying to escape being handled by a lot of the women in the class, I can only assume it was a male!  Attached below is a picture of the big guy that we found!
Identifying this frog honestly took a few minutes simply because it looked so similar to other species in his family.  Frogs such as the American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) and the green frog (Lithobates clamitans) are relatively large and have large tympanums right under their eyes just like our very own pig frog!  However, we were able to identify it by the crazy amount of webbing on its hind legs, which is indicative of an aquatic lifestyle!  We also found some pig frog tadpoles but I did not snap a picture of them, unfortunately.
One of the coolest features about this frog (in my opinion) is the call that it makes when it is trying to mate with another female or even tell other frogs to back off from his territory.  It is a deep guttural sound that really does sound like a pig snorting.  I tried to be as attractive as I could for this frog, but no calls were made.  Oh well!  If you want to try to hear it for yourself, the pig frog resides in coastal plains ranging from South Carolina to Florida, and as far west as Texas!



Also, for anyone interested, here is a link to pig frog calls recorded in a video on YouTube (just in case you either don't live near pig frogs or you don't want to go out and find one by yourself):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-xNJsh2Vi4&list=PLgudgJvcSuBwAjt8JvDsv59k9LUwwoDYk&index=8