It looks like we made it to another Friday Wild Fact. To celebrate the Friday before a long weekend we are going to look at one of North America’s smallest vertebrates.  What?  I like to celebrate long weekends by talking about interesting animals, don’t you?  As you have probably figured out by now, I am talking about the Northern Cricket Frog.  This particular tree frog is native to the United States and northeastern Mexico. So who is up for a nice, relaxing trip to Mexico to study a tree frog that looks like a toad and doesn’t actually live in trees?

That’s right, although the Northern Cricket Frog is technically a tree frog, they don’t seem to spend much time hanging out among the branches and leaves of the trees.  Instead, you will typically find these frogs chilling out by slow moving waterbodies.  Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to hang out by a nice little creek?  When it comes time for hibernation, these little frogs will make their way upland and get far away from their summer cottages around the water.

I seriously think the Northern Cricket Frog is having an identity crisis. We know they are a tree frog that doesn’t spend much time in the trees.  They happen to look like a toad with all of the warts; however, we know they are actually frogs since they are missing the large parotoid gland behind each eye, which is a common trait for our favourite toad species. If this wasn’t bad enough, they make an interesting “clicking” noise which sounds identical to many marsh birds.  Talk about an animal that needs to spend some time figuring themselves out.

Northern Cricket Frog Fast Fact – Okay, so I mentioned that this particular frog is one of the smallest vertebrates in North America.  What kind of Wild Fact would this be if it didn’t tell you how small they are?  Well these little froggy’s range in length from 19 to 38 mm (that is only 0.75 to 1.5 inches).  When you think about it, that is a pretty small frog!  They may be tough to see so make sure you are on the lookout when you are having your picnic by that nice babbling brook.

So there we go – another week of Wild Facts is in the books.  Enjoy your long weekend and if you are bored on Monday, make sure you stop by for a brand new Wild Fact!