📸 PhotoPhoto: Taka · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Common Toad
Bufo bufo (Common Toad · ヨーロッパヒキガエル)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A female of about 10 cm is similar in length to four Korean 500-won coins (26.5 mm diameter) lined up in a row (106 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 It often stays in British gardens throughout the summer. Because populations have declined, commercial trade is legally prohibited and it is a priority conservation species in development planning (ARC).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Common Toad is a widespread toad across mainland Britain that returns every spring to ancestral breeding ponds.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Males grow up to about 8 cm and females up to about 10 cm. Coloration is generally brown or olive-brown with wide variation, females often showing reddish tints, and the warty skin contains toxin glands that deter most predators.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
At night it hunts invertebrates such as ants, beetles, snails, slugs, and spiders. In spring, individuals follow the same routes to gather at breeding ponds for a brief period of about a week; eggs are laid in strings rather than clumps, and the black tadpoles swim in shoals.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2023) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/88316072/78902726
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — NP2D
- • iucnredlist.org — 78902726
- • wikidata.org — Q146375
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Bufo bufo 2 (2005 07 11).jpg
- • arc-trust.org — common-toad
- • bok.or.kr — contents.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Beth Reinke · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.