Frog vs Toad: Key Differences and How to Tell Them Apart

Is a toad a frog?

Yes. Every toad is a kind of frog. Frogs and toads together make up the order Anura, a group of tailless amphibians with more than 7,000 known species. Scientists do not divide this order into “frogs” on one side and “toads” on the other. “Toad” is a common name that people use for frogs that look squat, warty and dry-skinned.

Most animals called toads belong to the family Bufonidae, the “true toads”, which includes the common toad of Europe, the American toad and the cane toad. But the name is also used for unrelated frogs, such as fire-bellied toads, midwife toads and spadefoot toads. And some true toads are called frogs: the colorful harlequin frogs of Central and South America, for example, belong to the toad family. So the rules below work well for the familiar species of Europe and North America, but there are exceptions worldwide.

Skin: smooth and moist vs dry and warty

A frog such as the common frog has smooth, thin skin that feels moist or slimy and often looks shiny. Frogs lose water through their skin quickly, so most stay in damp places near water.

A toad’s skin is thicker, drier and covered in bumps that look like warts. These bumps are actually skin glands, and many of them produce bad-tasting or toxic secretions. The thicker skin lets toads survive in drier places than most frogs, such as gardens, fields, woods and even semi-desert. Toads cannot give people warts; the bumps are a normal part of their skin, as explained in Do toads give you warts?

Legs and movement: leaping vs walking

Frogs have long, muscular hind legs, often longer than their head and body, and they usually escape with long, fast leaps, often into water. Many frogs have strongly webbed hind feet for swimming.

Toads have shorter hind legs. They usually walk or make small, low hops, and some, such as the natterjack toad of Europe, even run. When threatened, a toad is more likely to stand its ground, puff itself up and rise on its legs to look bigger than to leap away. This defensive posture is especially well known in the common toad when it meets a grass snake.

Poison glands and defense

The clearest feature of a true toad is a pair of large, oval swellings just behind the eyes, called parotoid glands. These glands, together with the smaller glands in the warts, produce toxins called bufadienolides. Predators that bite a toad often release it at once and may foam at the mouth.

Most frogs lack parotoid glands and rely more on speed, camouflage and their jumping ability to escape. There are important exceptions, though: poison dart frogs of tropical America are among the most toxic animals known, despite their smooth skin. Toad toxins are mainly a danger to predators that bite or mouth them, such as dogs. People are safe if they simply leave toads alone. More detail is in Are toads poisonous?

Eggs and tadpoles: clumps vs strings

Spawn is one of the easiest ways to tell which animal is breeding in a pond. Common frogs lay their eggs in rounded, floating clumps of jelly, often hundreds of clumps together in shallow water. Common toads lay long, double strings of eggs, typically 3–4.5 m (10–15 ft) long and holding 1,500–6,000 eggs, which they wrap around water plants in deeper water. The photo above shows both kinds side by side.

The tadpoles differ too. Toad tadpoles are small and jet black, and they often swim in large shoals. Their skin is distasteful, so many fish avoid them, which lets toads breed in fish ponds where frogs struggle. Common frog tadpoles are brown with golden speckles and grow larger.

Habitat and lifestyle

Frogs usually live in or near water and damp vegetation for most of the year. Toads are more terrestrial. Outside the breeding season they can be found in dry woodland, gardens, fields and heaths, sometimes more than 1 km (0.6 mi) from the nearest pond. They hide in burrows or under logs by day and hunt at night.

Many toads are famous for their mass spring migrations back to the ponds where they hatched, which is why toad crossings and road signs are a familiar sight in parts of Europe. Frogs also return to breeding ponds, but they often travel shorter distances and choose shallower, smaller waters.

Which is bigger, and which lives longer?

It depends on the species, since both groups include giants and dwarfs. In Europe, a female common toad, at up to about 15 cm (6 in) in the south of its range, is usually bulkier than a common frog, which is mostly 6–9 cm (2.4–3.5 in) long. In North America, the American bullfrog is bigger than the American toad. The largest frog in the world, the goliath frog of West-Central Africa, is far heavier than any toad, while the cane toad is one of the biggest toads.

Toads often live longer than frogs of a similar size, partly because their toxins protect them from many predators. Common toads can live about 10–12 years in the wild and much longer in captivity, while most common frogs live only a few years.

Can frogs and toads interbreed?

No. Common frogs and common toads belong to different families and cannot produce offspring together. During the breeding season, however, eager male toads sometimes grab frogs, fish or even other males by mistake, which can make it look as if the two species are mating. These mix-ups never produce young.

Both frogs and toads are valuable in gardens because they eat slugs, snails and insects, and both are protected in many European countries. If you find one, the best way to enjoy it is simply to watch it and let it go about its business.