In the last issue we looked at some interesting toads in various parts of the world. Let’s look at a few more.
A very cute toad and one of the smallest is the tiny Rose’s toad of South Africa. The male of this species is only about an inch long.
Another small one is the spadefoot. It has this name because of a sharp spade (shovel) on the inside of each back foot, something like the toenail on your big toe. It uses these to dig backward into the ground. It tends to live in dry regions, but survives by living in wet areas, like under ponds or streams.
One spadefoot that lives in particularly dry places is the Couch’s spadefoot. It may stay underground up to two years, waiting for rain. When there is enough rainfall to fill a pond, they come up quickly and gather in the ponds. They must produce their offspring quickly, since the water isn’t likely to last long. Their eggs hatch into tadpoles in about 24 hours and become tiny little toads in as little as seven days. Spadefoot toads are not truly toads because they don’t have the poisonous glands of true toads.
The Fowler’s toad can puff up its body with air to appear larger as one method of defending itself from its enemies. The smallest North American toad, the oak toad, also reacts in this way to danger, while it also reveals colors not normally seen that warn an enemy that it is poisonous.
The yellow natterjack of England is also interesting. Because it has very short hind legs, it doesn’t hop; it walks or runs over the ground.
One species that does not have the normal drab colors of toads is the 7½-inch olive-green Colorado River Toad. It lives in the deserts of the United States and Mexico and is one of only two toads in the United States that produce stronger poisons than most toads, called bufotoxins. It has several places on its body that produce these poisons. Smart raccoons have learned to pull them out of the water by a hind leg and turn them onto their back to begin eating them at their belly. This keeps them safe from the poisonous glands that could kill them.
I hope you are as careful as a raccoon eating a poisonous toad with what you put in your mind. Are you “feeding” on things that are good with your eyes and ears, or are you taking in things that will poison your mind and heart and lead you away from the God who loves you? Our lead verse shows us how much God wants our hearts and eyes to be on Him.
Did You Know?
The yellow natterjack of England doesn’t hop but walks or runs over the ground.
Messages of God’s Love 1/7/2024