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will Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 330  View other posts by will |
Posted: 26 Mar 2010 The toads were out in force in Epping Forest last weekend, that's for sure - amongst them was the biggest ball of males attached to one poor female that I've ever seen - detaching each one I counted 12, plus the biggest female (12cm svl) I've seen (apart from the southern Mediterranean spinosus subspecies). Fortunately she was still alive, but it occurred to me that she might be so attractive to males, being so big, that this is why she had accumulated a dozen suitors. Perhaps this risk to big females acts to select against them ?   |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 26 Mar 2010 Great pix. Poor her! Suz |
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will Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 330 View other posts by will |
Posted: 27 Mar 2010 Thanks Suzi; got to her just in time, I think - but of course she could have been quickly grabbed again, although I did put her in a less frantic bit of the pond. |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 28 Mar 2010 Saw an amazing site over 20 years ago now. I was coming back from a walk on the deep dusk in Yorkshire and as we approached a gate in a stone wall we detected a movement by the wall. Hundreds and hundreds of toads were going through the wall to get to a breeding pond 50 yds the other side. We could see them on both sides of the wall. It was interesting as they didn't go through in groups at particular points, where maybe there were larger gaps, but rather spread themselves along the whole length of wall (maybe 30-40 yds). The pond has a huge breeding population of frogs and toads and this year the delay in the frogs' arrival, caused by the cold weather, is going to coincide with the toads' arrival. Normally there is 3 weeks gap between the two species. Suz |
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Baby Sue Senior Member Joined: 19 Feb 2008 No. of posts: 412  View other posts by Baby Sue |
Posted: 12 Apr 2010 I wanted presents from lots of you. Snot fair that Ben Rigsby was the only one to send me Xmas & birthday presents. 
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Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 12 Apr 2010 [QUOTE=will]it occurred to me that she might be so attractive to males, being so big, that this is why she had accumulated a dozen suitors[/QUOTE] Missed this first time round. In almost all the toad mating balls that I've pulled apart (my biggest was 12+1 as well, incidentally), the first male had a poor hold on the female (usually backwards or skewed)- my guess is that this prevents him dislodging other males. I suppose if the female is much larger than the male, it might increase the chance of a poor hold, but I'm doubtful that male toads have much of a preference for larger females- they seem to enthusiastically grab anything that moves... |
- how many? |