ADVERTISEMENTS:
The below mentioned article provides a paragraph on toad.
The young toad is a terrestrial creature. It feeds voraciously and continues to grow. Since toads destroy insects, they are beneficial to man. The animal is habitually shy but when attacked by a snake it puffs up and assumes an aggressive posture.
This curious habit is a means for its protection, but it seldom succeeds to escape in this way. The animal requires a damp environment to keep its skin moist for the purpose of cutaneous respiration. It always keeps close to a collection of water because of its peculiar breeding habit.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The toad is a cold-blooded or poikilothermal animal; its body temperature changes with that of the environment. In this respect, toads differ from birds and mammals which are warm-blooded or homoiothermal animals having a constant body temperature irrespective of the environment.
The cold-blooded condition has a profound influence over its activities and behaviours. Summer warmth increases the animal’s metabolism and its feeds, grows and reproduces its kind. The cold winter days, on the other hand, are spent in hibernation.
During this period, metabolism drops down to the minimum level; the animal is sleepy and torpid. The heart-beat slows down and its lungs being inactive, respiration occurs mainly through the skin.
Young toads attain sexual maturity in two years. They are now fit to reproduce their own kind. A female lays thousands of eggs during a single spell of mating and the milt poured by the male contains even more spermatozoa.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Had all these eggs been fertilised and the resulting tadpoles developed into toads the whole world would have been full of only these creatures. Some of the eggs fail to develop and many are eaten by enemies. Larvae are devoured by fishes and tortoises. The adults are taken by snakes and herons. The few that survive are sufficient for perpetuating the race.
Though fertilisation is the rule yet eggs may develop into tadpoles without being fertilised by a male sperm. This peculiar mode of sexual reproduction is known as parthenogenesis. Tadpoles resulting from parthenogenetic eggs have been observed to grow and reach the adult stage.
There is a controversy about the longevity of the toad. It has been said to live for more than thirty years but there is no definite proof to support this statement. With the progress of years the metabolic activity gradually becomes slow. The body of the animal wastes steadily due to failure of co-ordinated action on the part of the organ systems. At last comes death which ends all.
