20 February 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Joe McDowell with the Sedgwick County Zoo brought in Willie, a Sonoran Desert Toad, to KSN’s Wild Side Tuesday morning.
Willie is an amphibian.
“That’s basically meaning two lives,” said McDowell. “So they’re born in water, usually, their breeding is after it rains, like I said they’re in the water – the hatching, through their metamorphosis, after that tadpoles stage they turn into a full grown adult, so whether it’s a salamander, a toad, a frog, they have that two life stage.”
They are found in the southwest United States.
“They’re in Arizona, California, even lower New Mexico and into Mexico,” said McDowell.
McDowell says Sonoran Desert Toads, also known as Colorado River Toads, have very permeable skin.
“Oxygen, water, anything like that can go through their skin,” said McDowell.
The toads are also toxic.
“They have toxins in their skin like a lot of toads do, they can release that beneath their chin, or if they’re eaten it can make a predator really, really sick or even your dog if it got ahold of one, so not just sick, but even could be fatal depending on the size of the animal and how much toxin they get and anything like that. So definitely an animal you wouldn’t want your pet to digest,” said McDowell.
Click here for more information about the Sonoran Desert Toad from the SCZ.
McDowell says the SCZ is hosting FrogWatch, a program that teaches individuals how to report the calls of local frogs to contribute data to a national dataset, on Saturday, March 2, and Saturday, April 13. Click here for more details and to register.
McDowell also says the SCZ will begin shearing their sheep later in March.