ANYTHING CAN BE THEIR NEXT MEAL

Contrary to popular opinion, frogs aren’t selective eaters, feasting only on flies. Frogs and toads are carnivores, and they’re anything but picky. In general the diet of small to medium sized frogs consists of insects such as flies, mosquitoes, moths and dragonflies, as well as snails, slugs and worms. As the size grows, their prey size grows consequently. Larger frogs will eat larger insects like grasshoppers and worms, but they prefer small snakes, mice, baby turtles, and even other smaller frogs. Tadpoles eat algae in the ponds they grow in. As they grow, they feed on plants and small insects. If there isn’t enough food available they might even eat their fellow tadpoles. American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) are the perfect example. This massive frogs can reach 20 cm in lenght and weight 800gr. They will eat tarantula, bats, scorpions, fishes, other forgs and it is not uncommon for them to eat birds and rodents as a whole. To prey on these animals, bullfrogs cannot rely on a flashy tongues but carghe directly towards them. But they don’t stop there. They are in fact cannibalistic, eating other younger bullfrogs too.

- Mason Cooley

The first misconception is about the length of their tongues. Art, cartoons, and games all show a tongue that stretches out for feet at a time. The reality is that frogs do have long tongues, at least relatively. A frog’s tongue is usually around one-third the length of its body, meaning it is rarely more than 1 inch long, and often smaller. Not large by our standards, but huge by theirs. If our tongue was a third the length of our body, our tongue would touch our belly buttons. In addition, the frog tongue is attached to the front of the frog’s mouth, allowing it to launch almost the entire tongue out of its mouth.

The second misconception is how sticky their tongue is. Generally we think of a frog tongue as being sticky all the time, but that is not the case. If a frog’s tongue was always sticky, it would stick its mouth together. Instead, a frog’s tongue produces mucus right before the tongue impacts the insect. This mucus is amazing. When the tongue first hits the insect, the tongue envelopes the insect and the mucus-y saliva penetrates any gaps or cracks in the insect’s exoskeleton. During the high speed of the tongue retraction, the mucus becomes five times stickier than honey, helping to pull the insect into the frog’s mouth. Once in the mouth, a frog’s eyes push into its mouth. The slow speed causes the mucus to lose its adhesive properties, allowing the insect to be pushed by the eyes into the frog’s stomach.