Common Name: European Green Toad
Scientific Name: Bufotes viridis
Family: Bufonidae – True Toad family
Locations: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the Ukraine
Size: 4.7 inches (120 mm)
The European Green Toad is a beautiful toad found in varies habitats throughout Europe including forests, steppes, and deserts. Like most toads, the Green Toad is mostly fossorial, spending their time burrowed underground. They are estimated to live as long as 10 years.
The European Green Toad can reproduce in a wide range of habitats, including ponds, swamps, stream pools, and lakes. Most toads and frogs can only breed in fresh water while the Green Toad can breed in fresh and brackish (slightly salty) water. The reproduction season is wide ranging from February to July depending on location. The male toads will call from the shallows to attract female toad. The males and female toads will pair up in amplexus position. Then, the female toad will lay their eggs and male toad will then fertilize them. The female toad can live between 5,000 and 13,000 eggs.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assess the European Green Toad as Least Concern for Extinction. The toad has a wide range and a large population. General threats to the toad is changes in their habitat such as wetland draining, aquatic pollution, and the introduction of exotic fish species.