American Toad

Bufo americanus

By Warren Fellerman

I have selected to do an article on the American Toad because, growing up, everyone hears such things as touching a toad causes a person to get warts and I wanted to find out the truth about these often  misunderstood creatures. The American Toad has a few other names it is commonly called such as the Northern Toad and the Hop Toad. The scientific name is Bufo americanus. The Bufo americanus is a member of the class Amphibia, order Anura, and the family Bufonidae.

 The American Toad’s skin is a rough, warty, brown and black with many color variations. The underside of the toad is roughly fine. The chest is usually spotted with dark pigment. The color of the American toad is an olive, with parotoids (glands on side of head) and crest brown. The eyes are prominent. The female is usually larger than the male. The body length of the Bufo americanus is 3 ½ to 5 ½ inches.

 The area that the Bufo americanus can be found in is eastern North America. The American Toad spends the cool nighttime out and the hot days hiding underground. The Bufo americanus is one of the most common toads found throughout the state of Virginia. The toad is a native species of Virginia. The habitat of the toad is typically in gardens, lawns, moist woodland areas that offer deep soil and concealment. The winter is spent in hibernation under as much as three feet of ground. Its voice is a long musical trill, heard most often in early spring. The length of the trill is 6 to 30 seconds.

 The Bufo Americanus typically eats earthworms, cutworms, caterpillars, insects, and moths. It is estimated that the percentages of its total diet are as follows: one percent earthworms, sixteen percent cutworms, nine percent tent caterpillars, and nineteen percent weevils and beetles. This shows that the American toad is helpful in areas a person wants to raise plants as a natural way to get ride of harmful insects and other small animals that may want to try to harm the plants.  An interesting fact is that the American toad skin is used medicinally in China. The Bufo americanus skin contains the hormone adrenalin.

 I set out to learn about toads causing warts. During my research I found out that toads do not in any way cause people to have warts.

Written spring 2004, as a service learning project for Dr. Gary Coté's Biology 102 class at Radford University.  Copyright Pathways for Radford.