NATURE KNOWLEDGE—Frog Gender ID

There are people who just never pay attention to the gender of animals.  You know some of them, I’m sure.

The folks who insist that all cats are female and all dogs are male. (What do you suppose they think about Lady Bird Bugs?)

Well, I figured that they just haven’t had “easy access” to information that they really could care less about.

Since, parents,grandparents and caregivers are the earliest teachers for our kids and, kids knowing about nature ,is a passion of mine, I decided to offer quick posts of scientific facts for Kids of All Ages. Your kids will ask questions and wouldn’t it be great to have some answers “at the ready”?

I’m starting with frogs today.

How can we tell a girl frog from a boy frog?

Green frogs are easy once you know what to look for.

Frogs have circles behind their eyes. These are called tympanum. (a hearing organ/gland in frogs and toads)

Tympanum is also another term for drum. So a tympanum is a frog’s eardrum.

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In females, the tympanum is about the same size as her eye.

In males, the tympanum is larger than his eye.

In Green Frogs, mature males have bright yellow throats. They puff these up to show off and to let everyone know who’s the boss in the area.

Green Frogs are not always green…they range from many shades of green to shades of brown.

These posts will be compiled under Nature Knowledge in my categories. Hope they are helpful and interesting. 🙂

* Unless otherwise noted, all photos are my own.