Did You Know! The wood frog can hold its pee for up to eight months

The wood frog can hold its pee for up to eight months

The wood frog has a broad distribution over North America, extending from the boreal forest of the north to the southern Appalachians, with several notable disjunct populations including lowland eastern North Carolina.

Scientific name:- Lithobates sylvaticus

Lithobates sylvaticus

Habitat

Wood frogs are found in the United States throughout the forests of Alaska and the Northeast. They are found in smaller numbers as far south as Alabama and northwest into Idaho. Wood frogs are the only frogs that live north of the Arctic Circle. Adults usually live in woodlands and lay eggs in vernal pools. 

Hibernation 

Wood frogs have a different strategy. They hibernate by nestling down into the leafy litter on the forest floor. The leaves, duff and overlying snow give some insulation from extreme cold, but the frogs are not protected from subfreezing temperatures as they would be if they chose the underwater strategy.

Wood Frog

Size

1.5 to three inches

Wood frogs range from 1.5 to three inches in length, with the females larger than the males. 

Larvae

Wood frog larvae are dark brown to blackish tadpoles. Immediately after hatching the tadpoles are black, about . 25" long and found on or near the egg mass. They remain with the egg mass for a few days grazing on the symbiotic algae before swimming throughout the pool.

Talk about having to go! Wood frogs in Alaska have been known to hold their urine for up to eight months, sticking it out through the region’s long winters before relieving themselves once temperatures increase. The Urine actually helps keep the animal alive while it hibernates, with special microbes in their gut that recycle the urea (urine’s main waste) into nitrogen