![]() ![]() Add plants around the banks and don’t put fish in it. Allow some leaves to accumulate in the bottom of your backyard pond, and make sure it has a shallow area for wildlife to enter and exit. Here are some tips to attract wood frogs (or any amphibian) to your yard. They can survive in suburban and even urban areas if the right habitat exists for them. Wood frogs can be found throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Upper Midwest states, as well as Alaska and throughout Canada. Tadpoles that don’t complete their metamorphosis before the vernal pools dry up don’t survive, so the longer they have to grow, the more will survive to adulthood. This is a big advantage, as wood frogs breed in temporary ponds called vernal pools that fill up with melted snow in late winter, but dry out completely by the end of summer. This early emergence allows them to breed early in the year, which gives their tadpoles more time to develop into adult frogs. This ability to survive freezing also allows them to emerge from hibernation before most other frog species–sometimes when there is still snow on the ground. Check out this video about these amazing frogs. They can do this because they have the ability to survive being frozen solid. They are the only North American amphibian species whose range extends into the Arctic Circle. Wood frogs ( Rana sylvatica) are an exception. Most species just can’t tolerate the deep cold and long duration of winters in extreme northern latitudes, even when hibernating. Even so, amphibian species are less numerous the further north you go. Some species bury themselves at the bottom of ponds and others burrow into the leaf litter or even underground. Many species hibernate or go dormant to get through the cold, lean winter.Īmphibians are hibernators. ![]() Some species migrate south, others grow thick coats, and some fatten up or stash food reserves. Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke/Flickr Creative Commons.Different animals use different strategies to survive winter.
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