The Northern Leopard Frog is an amphibian that is a medium sized frog and lives in Northern parts of North America and in some places on the Pacific Coast.
What Does the Northern Leopard Frog Look Like?
The Northern Leopard Frog is brown or green and has large spots that are oval on their backs and legs. They have a light border that outlines their body and the underside of them is a white or cream colored. Their feet have a pink tint.
On the back of their legs, most Northern Leopard Frogs have dark colored lines and they also have a white stripe that goes from their jaw line to the back of their shoulder.
The Northern Leopard Frog has smooth skin and it can get up to 10 centimeters long, but the females are bigger than the male Northern Leopard Frog.
The tadpoles of the Northern Leopard Frog are also dark brown with light spots on the bottom of them and the tail of the tadpole is tan looking.
What Does the Northern Leopard Frog Eat?
The Northern Leopard Frog is a carnivore which means that they eat meat. They eat a lot of different kinds of insects such as beetles, worms, ants and they also eat other amphibians, birds and even snakes.
The interesting thing about the Northern Leopard Frog is that they can open their mouth very largely and this can allow them to swallow those larger animals.
What is the Northern Leopard Frogs Predator?
The predators of the Northern Leopard Frog include water snakes, hawks, raccoons, foxes, otters, bullfrogs, fish and newts like to eat the eggs of the Northern Leopard Frog.
Where Does the Northern Leopard Frog Live?
The Northern Leopard Frog lives in the northern part of North America and in some areas of the Pacific Coast. Most of the Northern Leopard Frogs live close to ponds, marshes, or other water areas. They also like to live where the grasses are tall to hide them.
Why Does the Northern Leopard Frog Have the Name Leopard?
The Northern Leopard Frog is called a leopard frog because of the spots that are found on the back and the legs of the frog, which is a leopard like print style.
Laying Eggs
Most of the Northern Leopard Frogs will only mate one time. They will have thousands of eggs, even up to 6500, at one time in a pond or the body of water. They will then leave the water and spend the rest of their lives on land.
Most Northern Leopard Frogs find their mates close to ponds, ditches, streams and marshes.
Behaviors of the Northern Leopard Frog
The Northern Leopard Frog will feed when it is warm and moist out. They will normally feed in a meadow that is wet or in a wet field that is covered by tall grasses or other vegetation. If they have to seek cover, they can always go into the water to hide.
Protection
The Northern Leopard Frog is not poisonous, but the spots look like the spots of the Pickerel Frog which lets out a bad taste if it is attacked. Since these spots are similar, sometimes the predators will leave them alone because they are afraid of the bad taste.
Facts About Northern Leopard Frogs:
- The Northern Leopard Frog can live up to 9 years if they are in the wild and up to 20 or more years if they are a pet in an aquarium.
- The Northern Leopard Frog is sometimes called a meadow frog because they are often times found around meadows.
- A large group of frogs is called an army.
- When a Northern Leopard Frog does a call, they have an area in their throat that inflates like a balloon.
- Many Northern Leopard Frogs will live together in one area and they will claim it as their territory.
- Male Northern Leopard Frogs do a deep rumbling snoring sound to attract the females. They will also do a giggle like sound when they hop.
What Did You Learn?
- What is the Northern Leopard Frog? The Northern Leopard Frog is a large frog that lives in the northern part of North America and some places on the Pacific Coast.
- Where does the Northern Leopard Frog live? The Northern Leopard Frog lives in marshes, ponds, lakes, streams and other places that have bodies of water and large grasses or vegetation.
- What does the Northern Leopard Frog eat? The Northern Leopard Frog is a carnivore which means it eats meat. It eats other animals such as other frogs, lizards, snakes and many different kinds of insects.
- What is a large group of frogs called? A large group of frogs is called an army.
- Why is the Northern Leopard Frog called a leopard? It is called the Northern Leopard because of the spots on its back and legs that are like the spots on a leopard.