American toad
The American toad is a common toad found across the eastern half of Canada and the United States. It lives in forests, grasslands and gardens, and it breeds in shallow ponds and pools. It matters because it eats many insects and other small creatures, and its skin releases a substance that can irritate eyes and harm small animals such as dogs.1

見分け方
- Adults are usually 5 to 9 cm long.1
- Skin colour varies from yellow to brown to black, and can be solid or speckled. It changes with habitat colours, humidity, stress and temperature.1
- Spots on the back contain only one or two warts, and the lower legs have enlarged warts.1
- The parotoid glands are the same colour as the surrounding skin.1
- Breeding males give a high trill lasting 6 to 30 seconds that sounds like a ringing telephone.1
よくまちがえられるのは: Fowler's toad, Woodhouse's toad, the Canadian toad, the southern toad and the Gulf Coast toad can look similar. Fowler's toad never has a spotted belly, and its cranial crests touch the parotoid glands. The American toad's crests almost never touch the glands. The Canadian toad's crests join to form a raised bump, which the American toad's do not. The southern toad's crests form two distinct knobs.1
毒パワー
皮ふに毒があるよ。さわったり、なめたり、食べたりすると危険。
その毒(さわる・食べると毒)はどうなるの?
The American toad does not inject venom. Its parotoid glands secrete bufotoxin, a poisonous substance that makes the toad unpalatable to predators. It is a mild poison compared with other poisonous toads and frogs, but it can irritate human eyes and mucous membranes and is dangerous to smaller animals such as dogs when swallowed.1
人にとってどれくらい危険?
人への危険: 軽いハチに刺されたくらいか、それ以下。人にはほぼ無害。Bufotoxin is a mild poison. It can irritate human eyes and mucous membranes, and it is dangerous to smaller animals, such as dogs, if they swallow it.1
こわいとき、どうするの?
When threatened, the toad releases bufotoxin from its parotoid glands, which makes it unpleasant to eat.1
だれかがさわったり食べたりしたら
- だれかがさわったら:手をよく洗って、目や口にさわらないこと。子どもやペットがなめたり食べたりしたら:中毒センターか救急番号に電話しよう。
まず必ず救急番号(112、000、911)に電話しよう。これは一般的な応急手当の案内で、医療のアドバイスではないよ。 応急手当の基本
安全に過ごそう
- 野生の動物には、小さくても、ねているように見えても、死んでいるように見えても、ぜったいにさわったり、つかまえたり、からかったりしないこと。
- 近づかないで。出会ったら落ちついて、ゆっくりあとずさりして、そのまま行かせてあげよう。
- さわったり食べたりしたら:目や口をこすらないで、手を洗って、医療の助けを受けよう。
きみをねらっているわけじゃないよ。毒は、食べられないようにするためだけにあるんだ。 安全に過ごすためにもっと知ろう
どれくらい大きい?
どれくらい長い?
おもちゃのブロック3こを1列にならべた長さ
100 mを180秒で走れる(いちばん速い人間は9.6秒)American toadは、きみとくらべてどれくらい大きい?
ブラウザで計算しているだけ。何も保存されないし、どこにも送られないよ。
どれくらい速い?
データ
Some American toads have lived for over 30 years, and one female was reported to be living healthily into her late 30s.1
Toads avoid mating with their siblings. Males' calls seem to help females recognise their close relatives.1
Toad tadpoles produce toxic chemicals in their skin that discourage some predators. Most fish learn quickly to avoid eating them.1
Their skin colour can change with their surroundings, humidity, stress and temperature.1
Tadpoles swim in very shallow water, often among thick grass, and gather in schools during the day to reduce predation.1
Toadlets often leave the water together in large groups and migrate to shaded forest areas near where they were bred.1
事実の出典
- American toad (Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0))
- Anaxyrus americanus (iNaturalist): 名前と分類。
- Venom Wiki: 危険レベル、ふつうの大きさ、スピードの予想は、わたしたち独自のものだよ。どうやって決めているかはこちら: 危険度のつけ方.
このページのどの事実にも、出典をしめす番号がついているよ。まちがいがあったらごめんね、わたしたちは動物好きで、科学雑誌じゃないんだ。[email protected]に教えてくれたら直すよ。
皮ふに毒
