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| The Green Frog is quite variable in appearance and can be green, yellowish green, olive, brown or any combination of these colours over its back. It is a relatively large 6-9 cm frog. It has a prominent ridges running down each side that distinguishes it from the Bullfrog, which lacks this feature. Mature males have a bright yellow throat (particularly during breeding season) and a tympanum much larger than its eye. Green frogs are found in a wide range of habitats in the Algonquin Highlands, usually in rich, weedy, warm ponds and lakes, slow-moving rivers, farm ponds and shallow marshes. The Green Frog emerges from hibernation in early April, but does not begin to call or breed until June or July. The common call, "clung", like the sound of a loose banjo string, is only one of its many calls. There is also a high-intensity call when facing other males across territorial borders, an aggressive call when another male approaches too closely, and a growl made while males are wrestling. A release call is given by females who have already laid their eggs and by males who are losing a wrestling match. Both sexes emit an alert call, a loud sharp "eeep", when leaping to the safety of the water. Tadpoles spend the winter in the water and transform the following summer. The tadpoles may grow to about 6 to 8 cm long, but during transformation the froglets may end up smaller than they were as tadpoles. |
(Family Ranidae)
Rana clamitans
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