📷 Marek Szczepanek · CC BY-SA 3.0
📷 Benny Trapp
📷 Wikimedia Commons
IUCN: Least Concern
Fire-Bellied Toad
Bombina bombina
KingdomAnimalia›PhylumChordata›ClassAmphibia›OrderAnura›FamilyBombinatoridae›GenusBombina
About
The fire-bellied toad’s upper side is a mottled green-and-black camouflage, but the underside is a vivid warning: red-orange blotches on black that it flashes with an arch of the back when disturbed. Skin glands secrete a mild toxin that makes this display more than a bluff. From late spring into summer, males call from floating vegetation with a soft, clucking ‘hoo-hoo’, often many at a time, sounding more like a distant flock of birds than a pond of toads.
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Ponds, ditches, streams, and flooded meadows in lowland Europe
🍃Diet Insects, beetles, flies, worms, and other small invertebrates
📏Size & Weight 2.5–5 cm long
•Weight About 3–10 g
⏳Lifespan About 10–12 years in the wild
🗺Range Central and Eastern Europe, east to the Black Sea region
AmphibianToad
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Ponds, ditches, streams, and flooded meadows in lowland Europe
🍃Diet Insects, beetles, flies, worms, and other small invertebrates
📏Size & Weight 2.5–5 cm long
•Weight About 3–10 g
⏳Lifespan About 10–12 years in the wild
🗺Range Central and Eastern Europe, east to the Black Sea region
Photo Credits
#1Marek Szczepanek · CC BY-SA 3.0
#2Benny Trapp · CC BY 3.0
#3Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
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