990917 Amazing Amphibians-Michael

September 15, 2010
Amazing Amphibians
Check out these incredible facts about frogs, toads and salamanders
Courtesy Conservation International

Amphibians are amazing animals. Did you know that toads use their eyeballs to help swallow their prey? Or that there are species of salamanders that can re-grow a new leg or tail if needed? Read on to learn more interesting facts about these cool creatures.
• Amphibians live on all continents, except Antarctica.
• The goliath frog of West Africa is the world's biggest frog. Its body alone can reach almost a foot in length, and it weighs up to seven pounds. The giant frog also has the longest leap, easily clearing 10 feet in a single hop.
• The Chinese giant salamander is the world's biggest amphibian, weighing in at well over 100 pounds and reaching up to more than six feet in length.
• The toxin in one individual of the most toxic poison dart frog could kill over 90 humans.
• In Brazil, the world's only fruit-eating frog leaps with its mouth wide open at ripe fruit hanging in trees.
• The gliding frogs of Southeast Asia can "hang-glide" between trees, thanks to the extensive webbing between their toes.
• Spadefoot toads smell like peanut butter.
• The gastric brooding frog of Australia, now thought to be extinct, swallows its fertilized eggs. It raises the tadpoles in its tummy until they develop into frogs. Then the froglets come hopping out of the parents' mouth.
• A group of frogs is called an "army" of frogs, and a group of toads is a "knot" of toads.
• Some Australian frogs create their own insect repellent that resembles the smell of rotten meat, roasted cashew nuts and other scents.
• The ornate horned frog uses its powerful jaws and sharp teeth to capture rodents, birds, and other small animals. A large frog can eat an entire mouse with one swallow.
• The water-holding frog survives in the dry Australian outback by taking in so much rainwater that it blows up like a balloon.
• Frogs typically shed their skin about once a week—and usually eat it afterward.

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/story/0,28277,2019443,00.html

990917 Amazing Amphibians-Michael
There are a lot of amphibians in the world. The seven continents except Antarctica all have amphibians. Amphibians are animals such as “frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts”. These animals are all cold blood animals. Amphibians are very special animals because they can live in water and on the land. Such as frogs, when the frog is born it doesn’t even look like a frog. You call a child frog –tadpole. When the tadpole frogs up it also grows legs and it will turn into a frog. When the outside changes, the inside also changes. A tadpole uses gills to breath but when it grows up it uses lungs to breath. The amphibians are very special animals. It is also special to call a group of frogs and toads. You call a group of frogs an "army" of frogs and you call a group of toads a "knot" of toads. The amphibians have a lot of interesting facts such as The largest amphibian is the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) and also a group of salamanders that is called “plethodontids” the don’t have lungs they breathe with their skins and mouth. Isn’t that cool? There are still a lot of amphibians that scientists haven’t found out. So the world is a very special place.