Wood Frog

This is the only 'masked' frog in Rhode Island. The color of the spine of the adult wood frogs is dark brown. Generally the females have a much lighter body color. The belly or stomach of the wood frog is ivory in color and of white colored throat and chest may have dark mottling. The bottom of its hind legs look like white to pale yellow colors with dark bars. The Wood Frogs front toes do not have webbing and normally the female Wood Frogs are larger than the males. The Wood Frog displays a black face from the tip of its nose to its eye and middle ear. The ear of most frogs is behind the eye. Some wood frogs show a light stripe on the middle while others have a dainty stripe or none at all.

The Wood Frog's average size is about 2 3/4 inches long. The color is generally chestnut, but may vary in color from yellow-green green to almost light black.

In Rhode Island, Wood Frog's calling for mates occurs mostly during the middle of the afternoon, when air and water temperatures are over 50°F. Once one wood frog begins calling, other frogs join in the chorus. Rana sylvatica is safe in Southern New England, occurring in most state parks, forests, and private sanctuaries, as well as in many suburban and rural areas.

Wood frogs inhabit areas in the Arctic Circle on the edge of the northern spruce forests, throughout Canada, the Great Lakes, and South throughout New England. They also inhabit regions of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, and Missouri. The area they inhabit covers almost four million square miles.

Wood Frogs live from Alaska through much of Canada where winters are very bitter cold. They can survive in harsh weather down to 23°F or lower. In the cold winter weather they increase the glucose stored in their fluid cells. The glucose acts as antifreeze, lowering the freeze point. By stopping freezing inside, the cell tissue is not affected, and the frog survives. Still, one third of the frog's body fluids may freeze during the winter without harm the frog.

In early spring in Manitoba, people hear the male wood frogs calling for mates. When winter's snow is all but gone wood frogs emerge from hibernation and get right to the business of breeding. Wood frogs are among the first amphibians to breed each year in southern Manitoba beginning in the middle of April.

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