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Amphibians (frogs)
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Frogs belong to a group of animals called amphibians. Amphibians live part of their life in water as eggs and tadpoles and the other on land as adult frogs. Like reptiles, they are cold-blooded, meaning that their body temperature is the same as the surrounding temperature. Their skin is usually smooth and slimy. Frogs are carnivores which mean they eat other animals. They have teeth inside their mouths, but the teeth aren't used for chewing, just for holding because frogs swallow their food whole. Frogs use their eyes to help swallow. They pull their eyeballs into their mouth to push food into their stomachs. Most frogs mate in water and produce eggs that are protected by a jelly-like substance called frog spawn. If the eggs don't get eaten by other animals or the water doesn't become polluted or dry up, tiny tadpoles hatch from the eggs. Tadpoles only eat plants so they are called herbivores and like fish, they have a tail to swim and gills so they can breathe underwater. As the tadpole grows, it slowly turns into a frog by growing legs and lungs. Their tail also gradually disappears and the tadpole moves out of the water and lives the remainder of its life as a frog. The skin of a frog is very sensitive to the environment. They die in polluted water. If you hear lots of frogs in an area, it means that the local environment is in good condition. However, in areas where water or air pollution has occurred, the local frog community will be affected and there are likely to be very few frogs. Did you know?
Download the following fact sheets for interesting information on some of Victoria's amphibian species: Pobblebonk
Southern Brown Tree Frog
Please note: Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe web site.
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