Did you know that toads are climbers?
- The toads have an extraordinary ability to climb trees, even at heights of up to two meters. According to herpetologist Alberto Gosá, climbing on the logs is a matter of strategy for, in times of drought, absorbing the moisture of the logs' mosses and lichens, eating local insects and being further away from predators.
Common Iberian toads (Bufo spinosus) are hard and skilled animals. Behind their clutching and cousca figure, they have an amazing ability: the ability to scale trees. The strength of the legs and the length of the fingers allow them to penetrate the small cracks of the trunks and climb up between mosses and lichens, until we reach a place we would never think about.
Alberto Gosá saw the toads that were 167 of the 259 Afro-Afro-descendants climb to the trunks and saw some specimen almost 2 meters high
The herpetologist of the Society of Sciences Aranzadi, Alberto Gosá, made observations and followings in Orgi's film, in Ultzama, between 2000 and 2002, and measured the ability to climb three species of amphibians that are not climbing by themselves, that is, that move through the ground. One of them was the toad. According to his research, although he thought otherwise, the buttons have a great lifting capacity. Of the 259 amphibians he saw climbed to the logs, there were 167 toads, and he also saw a grain about 2 meters high. According to Gosá, climbing the logs is nothing more than a strategy for, in times of drought, absorbing the moisture of the logs' mosses and lichens, eating local insects and being further away from predators.
Alberto Gosá's research showed that 92% of the toads always got the same tree.
Gosá's researches also showed the importance of each tree. In fact, he marked some of his ankle boots and followed them several times with visits to the same area. The results were spectacular: in spite of the great migratory and motor capacity of the toads, 92% of them always climbed the same tree and the divers were barely 3-4 meters away. Some of them, for example, were found in the same tree for three months. Many times, in the driest months.
Are the most common species the most unknown?
Such monitoring and research provide us with a lot of information about the species around us and the nature around us. Currently, the researcher Iñigo Martínez-Solano has 300 people tagged in the Sierra de Guadarrama for follow-up and information collection. In his opinion, the study is a good opportunity to measure the movement capacity of toads and to know how many years they can live. In fact, it is believed that the large toads are disappearing, but there has still not been a long follow-up to prove that that is the case.
It tends to look and investigate the jewel, making known the common species
Many times, contrary to what we think, the most common species around us are not the most well-known species. It tends to look and investigate the jewel, making known the most common species.
From now on, therefore, every time you see a toad, remember that behind the red eyes is a survival animal. At least an animal that deserves to be looked at with respect and curiosity.
*NOTE: For the common Iberian toad Ugal garaia, what you have just read is the last article in the collection. Two other articles extracted by Iñaki San-Azkue in this batch:
- How to help amphibians cross the road?
- In the struggle for fertilization, the toads can reach death
