Mr Frog, what on earth are you thinking – The African common toad or guttural toad @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay
The African common toad or guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis) is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae.[2] It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Réunion, Somalia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, dry savanna, moist savanna, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, intermittent rivers, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, urban areas, heavily degraded former forest, ponds, and canals and ditches. Of course since coming here, I have this weird fascination of toads and frogs. I guess I get that from my mom, she use to love frogs and always tried to protect them. But my fascination is not that they cute or kinda almost alien looking but why do they always smile, I know our grey foam-nest froggie hates it when its overcast. He always has a sad face when it rains or the sun doesn’t shine, but this frog constantly smiles and he is only active at night, maybe he’s feels like the luckiest frog alive, his species is thriving, I guess there must be a lot of bugs around, but I wonder if he has ever considered the snakes that might be lurking around looking for such a yummy meal like him? I guess we will never know… This big guy we often see when we take the dogs for their last walk before we go to bed, its kind of a nightly ritual for us. Sometimes the dogs will even come remind us to take them for their walk around the garden. Lately every night while on our walk Mr frog is seemingly sitting and waiting for us to pass by, all the dogs and even the cat greet him on the walk and when we come back say goodnight. We love all our Sibaya creatures, it reminds you of how wild South Africa truly still is… A few fun facts about this amphibian: They are a large specie of frog, males can grow up to 90 mm and females up to 120 mm. Like most frog species the female is larger than the male They are super adaptable to change in their environment, so habitat is never an issue for them, although they do prefer savanna and moist areas. The upper surface is buffish brown with variable irregular dark brown markings. There are two pairs of brown spots between the eyes making a cross-like mark, and there is often a pale stripe down the spine. The arms are edged by distinctive white tubercles and there is a red patch on the back of the thighs. The underparts are pale and granular and the male has a dark throat. The parotid glands are prominent and the toes are only slightly webbed. The guttural toad is very common. It is spreading through southern Africa as its population increases. It can live in a variety of environments, and is very adaptable. It has no major predators and does not suffer much from habitat loss. Source of all factual info: Guttural toad
