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What Animals Eats Frogs

what animals eats frogs

In this article, I will be sharing with you some of the animals that eats frogs or feed on frogs. One of the things I like as much as I dislike it is the croaking of frogs from potholes, gutters, ponds, and other mini water lands that only form during the rainy season, especially the night it rains.

I like the croaking of the frog because sometimes I find it very hilarious especially in the cool of the night, when tranquility is restored to the environment and the silence gives the choristers of frogs a stage with which they entertain and warm up nature in the night world. Then I dislike it when it is not cordial enough, like you have about four frogs croaking at different pitches and differently, almost like a charade. Times like that are when I really want to go out in the dark, fish the frogs out and silence them forever.

It is on account of the latter that I am excited about writing this article. So just like every animal has a predator or is a predator which is in line with the food chain of the ecological system and also brings balance to the ecosystem, the frog also is a prey for some predators in the ecological system.

What does the frog look like?

Before sharing the animals that eats frogs, I will briefly share what the frogs look like in this section. The frog is a species of amphibian, and just like the other amphibians who have no tail, the frog belongs to the Anura order.

However, the frog has a quite moist and smooth skin, and a squatting position from which it leaps to make locomotive movements. Very close to the frog is the warty, squatty, and hoppin anura, which is called the toad.

Also, the frogs are mostly identified with their very protruding eyes, their strong web bound hind feet, and of course it has no tail. So, it uses the web bound hind feet to leap, as well as swim through the ponds or gutters where it inhabits or the path it threads.

More so, many of these amphibians called frogs also have skin glands that are very poisonous, and these toxins are what they use on their prey. It is assumed that this very poisonous skin gland should be an adaptive feature that will help the frogs escape from the claws and from the snares of their relentless and merciless predators, unfortunately, these skin glands that are very poisonous do not offer any form of protection to the frogs from the predators.

Whether it be mammals, or birds, or snakes, or even other species of amphibians, the very poisonous skin glands do not have the ability to provide the frogs with the protection that they need from any of their predators.

Furthermore, it is necessary to know that some of these anurans are edible, while some of them are not edible. So, the frogs that are edible have been discovered to have to depend solely on the adaptive feature of camouflage, with which the frogs try to hide by blending into their environment. There are also some of them who can slightly change colours just like the chameleons would but not as the chameleon would.

There are also other species of frogs that have very bright colours in their body parts beneath the surface. These bright colors flash around whenever the frog leaps in movement, or even just moves at all, which often confuses the enemy of this species of frogs, as well as distracts these predators from being able to identify this species of frog, not to talk of capturing it and having it for food. Some animal scientists postulate that this adaptive feature is actually proof that this species of frog could be very poisonous, and that its toxicity should not be underestimated or undermined.

Before this section is over, it is important to also note that some species of the frogs are basically aquatic in nature so they live in water, while some other species of frogs live on land, in trees, and even in burrows. There are also other species of frogs that live in the water, on the land, in the burrows, and in the trees.

Finally, most species of frogs whether they live in the water, in the trees, in the burrow, or even on land have been observed to feed on worms, on insects, on some other tiny arthropods, while a good number of some other species of frogs eats other species of reptiles, on species of rodents, some of them even feed on other species of frogs as the case may be.

What kind of Animals eats frogs?

Having seen how poisonous some species of frogs can be, as well as their rate of toxicity. At this juncture, it is important to know that there are animals that feed on the different species of frogs and I will be sharing these animals with you in this devotion.

There are a lot of animals that eats frogs, some of these predators specifically and mostly feed on the green species of frogs. Some of these very common species of frogs’ predators include the following: species of snakes, species of birds, species of fishes, species of herons, species of otters, species of minks and even human beings.

There are also some other predators of the different species of frogs that do not appear to be as common as the ones that are listed in the section above. Some of these uncommon predators of the different species of frogs include the following: the owls that are barred, the hawks with raid tails, the crayfish, the opossums, the skunks, the turtles. the large diving beetles, the Eastern newts, the blue jays, the skunks and even the six-spotted fishing spiders.

More so, the species of frogs lay eggs, and the tadpoles as well as the frogs are also a source of food supply to the food chain of the ecological system, because predators like leeches as well as some big marine insects.

However, as a result of the natural ecological abundance of the different species of frogs, these different species of frogs have unfortunately become a common and a huge supply of food to the food chain in the ecological system for so many animals.

For more clarity, the animals that eats frogs may have to be carefully enumerated based on the different habitats of frogs where these predators may inhabit as well.

Freshwater biome

There are some species of frogs that inhabit the freshwater biome which makes them an important part of any freshwater biome. Within the frog’s life cycle, this species of frog goes through a cycle and series of changes.

So, when the frog lays an egg, the egg in a couple of days grows into a free-swimming tadpole, and then to a frog. Now through each level of growth, the frog is prone to attack from different predators. For instance, with leopard species of frogs that dwell in the freshwater biome, almost all of its tadpoles die; like on a scale of one hundred percent, about ninety five percent of the froglets, or baby frogs die in the hands of predators at that stage of their life cycle.

The Birds and The Snakes

It has been established earlier that different species of tadpoles as well as frogs fall victim or prey (rightly put) to a different species of birds, as well as different species of reptiles (snakes included).

So, the species of frog that live or inhabit the freshwater biome do not exist alone in that ecological system. They inhabit the freshwater biome in the company of different species of birds, different species of insects, different species of reptiles and different species of other organisms. In the midst of this company, the frog is a prey and also a predator, depending on which species of organisms it encounters as it lives through its cycle.

In the freshwater biome, frogs and tadpoles are attached and killed mostly by the different species of birds, and the different species of snakes. However, the bigger frogs are safe from these predators except the real bigger birds that are usually identified as the avian predators.

Some of these birds or avian predators include the hawks, geese, swans, ravens, crows, gulls, ducks, and wading birds. These big frogs are also prone to being prey to predators to swimming snakes like water moccasins, garter snakes, and other swimming snakes.

A Variety of Mammals

While it is true that many classes or species of mammals do not feed on some species of toads and frogs as a result of the foul skin secretions, not all species of frogs have a foul skin that secretes the bad taste which repels predators.

However, most of the mammals in a freshwater biome will always hunt down and prey on the frogs within their reach if they are able to catch any of those frogs.

Some of these mammals include human beings, the monks, the otters, the foxes, and the raccoons. Amazingly, most of these mammals do not really inhabit the freshwater biome, they just visit the habitat in search of food, during which they hunt down the species of frog they find the freshwater biome habitat.

Water Creatures

Next on our list for animals that eats frogs are the water creatures. Some of this water predators include the following: fishes, turtles that live in water, water snakes, some species of carnivorous frogs as well.

The biological nature of frogs makes it necessary for frogs to seek out any source of water, it could be a gutter, pond, creeks, stream, anywhere it can find moist so that the skin of the frog is wet, and the frog is able to breathe.  As a result of this, a good number of frogs spend a lot of time in water. Apart from keeping wet to enable breathing, the frog also gets into water to avoid getting into the hands of its predators on the land.

These reasons which are highly plausible unfortunately sends these fresh water biome species of frogs into the hands of their aquatic predators.

Smaller Predators

In the freshwater biome, there are also small predators who take pride in feeding on tadpoles, froglets, and even frog eggs. You know how they say cut your clothe according to your cloak, these predators consider all the mini or smaller sizes of frogs, better put these small creatures consider frogs to be a good source of meal when the frogs are at the early stages of their life cycle.

Sometimes i wonder why the smaller frogs are unable to fight back because these creatures are also small themselves. However, some of these creatures include the following: leeches, large water bugs, dragonflies, newts, dragonfly larvae, diving beetles and so many other little animals that eats frogs in their early stages.

So, these creatures by feeding on  frogs also gives more importance to the frogs in the ecological system, because clearly, the frogs supply food to the food chain for both the bigger creatures and the smaller creatures.

Rainforest

In the rainforest ecology, the species of frogs there appear to be very neat and most of the times. The species of frogs in the rainforest environment are usually very aesthetic as a result of the the colourful nature of these species of frogs.

Unfortunately, these beautiful species of frogs also supply food to the food chain in the ecological system of the rainforest. They are food for a good number of the animals that inhabit the rainforest environment.

Some of these predators include birds, kitties, and so many other animals that get attracted to these species of frogs and consider them food. Good enough, some species of frogs in the area of the rainforest are able to utilize their adaptive features which helps them escape from the claws of their predators.

Reptiles and Amphibians

So, while some of the species of frogs in the rainforest are able to find their ways out of the claws of their predators, the others fall victims to some species of reptiles and some species of amphibians. The species of Frogs in the rainforest are prone to attack from both some species of reptiles and some species of amphibians because the rainforest is made up of both water, and land.

Some of these predators lay in snare on the land, in the water, at edges of the water, on the trees and in some other places. These predators include the alligators and some species of snakes that stay at the edge of the water.

The other predators that are on land or on trees include the following: monitor lizards, bullfrogs, pythons, boas, snakes, tiger salamanders, and other land amphibians too.

Birds

Like in the freshwater biome, there are different kinds of birds in the rainforest which feed on the species of frogs in the rainforest ecological environment.

They fly above the ground and when they happen to sight a colorful leaping frog, with their sharp sight, they fly in that direction and they strike accurately without missing their targets most of the times.

Some of these birds include the following: the Eagles, the hawks, the hornbills, the toucans, and the owls.

Tarantulas

In the rainforest environment, most the frogs also need the be careful of the tarantulas.

Tarantulas are large and hairy spiders, that have venoms in them which are quite poisonous when they bite. Natgeo wild records that the tarantulas usually burrow the ground and live in the ground. It is important to note that they belong to the family of arachnids.

This animal is a threat to the species of frogs in the rainforest. They always take the frog by surprise because they burrow the ground and live in the ground, so when the frog is not suspecting, they launch an attack. Gladly, the frogs who are not usually on the ground but on the trees are free from the attack of this tarantula species of spider.

Albeit, there is another species of tarantula spider called the arboreal tarantulas (that is an arachnids that dwells on the tree, or a tarantula that dwells on the tree). This species of tarantula exists and also pose great dangers to the species of frogs that live on the trees and stay off the ground.

Mammals

And finally on our list for animals that eats frogs are the mammals. Like in everywhere else, there are mammals that live in the rainforest. Some of these mammals include sloths, ocelot, monkeys, tapirs, anteaters, and insects, there are also more mammals that are very predatory in nature, and are usually in the cat like in nature. Like the leopards, the jaguars, and the other bigger cats when they are hungry.

The small ocelot usually enjoys feeding on the frogs as a part of the small ocelot’a diet. Surprisingly, the blind bat also feeds on the frogs. The blind bat attacks the species of frogs that live in the rainforest at night when they are not suspecting. They track them through the sounds the frogs make at night.