Common Frog
Rana temporaria
Least ConcernFast Facts
About
The common frog is Europe's most familiar amphibian, a smooth-skinned, agile hopper in shades of olive, brown and yellow, with a dark 'mask' behind each eye. It is a welcome resident of garden ponds, where its spring-laid spawn is a cherished sign of the changing seasons.
Highly variable in colour, it can adjust its skin tone over time to blend with its surroundings.
Behaviour
Common frogs gather in large numbers at breeding ponds in early spring, the males croaking in chorus and clasping the females to fertilise their clumps of jelly-like spawn. Outside the breeding season they live solitary lives in damp vegetation.
In cold winters they hibernate in mud at the bottom of ponds or beneath logs and stones.
Did you know?
- Frogs can absorb oxygen through their skin, allowing them to overwinter underwater
- A single clump of frogspawn can contain over a thousand eggs
- They can subtly change colour to match their surroundings
- Frogs partially swallow using their eyes, which retract to help push food down
Distribution
Across most of Europe, from Ireland to the Urals
