Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Temperature: 86°

Humidity: 62%
Mostly Cloudy

Since our trails were closed due to a small forest fire that we had a few weeks ago, I haven't been out much during lunch recently. Strangely enough I (seem to) see just as much wildlife in our visitor's center. A ranger had caught two types of toads for me yesterday to use in a program. One was a Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri) and the other was an Eastern Narrowmouth Toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis). The Narrowmouth was easy to identify. It was plump and looked like a triangle (see the picture above). Really, you can't mistake their shape for any other type of toad that we have here in NC. The Fowler's Toad was a little harder. Basically it looked exactly like an American Toad. The only way that I was sure that it was a Fowler's was that it had a dark spot in the middle of its white chest. That's it. Apparently you can look at its cranial crest to see if it is less pronounced then an American Toad but since I had nothing to compare it to I decided to be happy with using the spot technique.
The two toads we had were by far the luckiest creatures that I have ever seen. After the program was over a ranger and I decided that our captive Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) needed a snack. We dumped our two tasty toads in and set back for the show. Unfortunately for our blood thirsty desires, the snake never seemed to catch on that it was lunchtime. We got bored and decided it was time to release all three in the wild. Putting them all in a small carrying container, we took them outside. Even squished in a small enclosure with his meal, the snake still couldn't find its food (but by his alert state he obviously knew it was there). All three ended up back in the woods no worse for wear but the toads both had a "wild ride"!

Picture found at: SREL Herp Home