The Puerto Rican crested toad
Hello and this is RBL, in this blog I will be looking at the interesting timeline and outline of the Puerto Rican crested toad. I chose this species because I’ve always liked how they look. I also think that they look very unique in lumps on their skin as well.
Puerto rican crested toad (male) -
"Puerto Rican Crested Toad, male / Sapo Concho Puertorriqueño,macho" by
USFWS/Southeast is licensed under
CC BY 2.0 Taken on May 14, 2009
What is the Puerto Rican crested toad?
In Binomial Nomenclature, the spider crab is seen as the Peltophryne lemur. It’s the only toad to be native to different parts of Puerto Rico, but hasn't found anywhere else since.
How have they changed overtime?
They were first found in the northern parts of the karst belt. The Karst belt is a wetland that lives almost entirely off different karst for its water supply. Karst itself is an underground cave-like center The karst region harbors the richest biodiversity in Puerto Rico. Over time the numbers of the crested toad slowly began to dwindle lower and lower. This was until 1931 where they were thought to be extinct for a very long time. This was likely because of their environments changing slowly around different points in those different years. This was until its rediscovery in the northern part of the island in Isabella and in 1974 was found in Quebradillas in Puerto Rico. This was because they were able to adapt to their different environments so they could survive throughout the years. Then a decade later in 1984, the southern population that we know today was found in the Guánica Commonwealth Forest and in 1987, the crested toad was listed by the USFWS as a species threatened for extinction. Today the Puerto Rican crested toad population is slowly growing in size from 300 total to 3,000 of them.
The Golden toad -
"Golden Toad" by
StanfordWoods is marked with CC PDM 1.0 Taken on May 14, 2009
One of the ancestors of the Puerto Rican crested toad is the Costa rican golden toad. The golden toad is now extinct because of environmental causes like climate change, as well as fungal infections. Compared to that the Crested toad did go through some of those environmental changes as well, but was able to adapt to their circumstances so they could survive even up to today. One thing they do have in common is that they are both amphibians, and their eyes are similar in color and size.
Questions for the organism:
Before I got into scientific research I had to look at a few questions to help me look at the Puerto rican crested toad in a few different ways. Here are my responses to each question below:
1. What temperature do they live in?
One article that I looked up that stated this information was by Javorka, Julie titled “Peltophryne Lemur (Ridge-Headed Toad).” This article states that the remaining crested toads live in different parts of the southern forests of Puerto Rico. The climate ranges between from 81 to 85°F and 66% to 83% in humidity.
2. What makes these toads unique?
The article I looked up to find this information was "Puerto Rican Crested Toad, Facts and Photos" by National Geographic. It gives out two specific things that make the crested toad unique. One of them being their large golden eyes that can help it to see at night. The other fact being that it’s the only toad to be native to Puerto Rico.
3. My quantitative question being,what's the average length of a puerto rican crested toad?
Depending on the gender the size of the Puerto Rican crested toad can be 4 inches for females and 3 inches for males. To give me more options I will convert to millimeters instead of inches, that makes the range 76 - 102 millimeters.
Given this range I calculated these data points: 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 94, 98, 102
After that I calculated the mean, variance and standard deviation for the data points.
Mean: 98.5
Variance: 142.9
Standard deviation: 11.95
Habitat and traits:
Puerto Rican crested toad (Female) -
"Peltophryne lemur: female" by
Wilfredo Falcón is licensed under
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 3.
"Puerto Rican Crested Toad, male / Sapo Concho Puertorriqueño,macho" by
USFWS/Southeast is licensed under
CC BY 2.0 Taken on October 12, 2007
Puerto rican crested toads live in subtropical and dry forests. They hide in between different rocks during the day, and come out to search for food at night. Some of the traits that the Puerto rican crested toads are that they have bony like crests above their heads. These crests also release a toxic gas that can either kill or intoxicate it's predators. Their golden eyes make it very unique. These eyes also make it easy for the toads to see at night. A special textured skin that comes in many different forms and colors. It's skin also makes a way for the crested toad to camouflage itself during the night. The interesting thing with their skin is that depending on their gender their skin color is a different shade.They are nocturnal and only are out during the night. Because it's nocturnal, it makes it hard to spot during the night time.
A different habitat:
A new habitat for the Puerto Rican crested toad is a cold arctic forest. In this environment the temperatures are from 15-30 degrees fahrenheit at a time. There are many different lakes and streams that run through the forests. Due to the temperature they are often frozen over. There are many tall spruce trees that are covered in snow. There are also many smaller rock ways that some other species hide in from time to time.
My hypothesis:
Well if the Puerto Rican crested toad was inside of a cold arctic forest, it’s characteristics would make it a lot harder for it to survive. One I did say would help it in its humid forest habitats is it’s brown and gold like skin. This would be an issue in an arctic habitat because it would make it very easy for it to be noticed in the snows. One thing that would help the Puerto rican crested toad is the crests on its head. These crests can release a toxic gas that could kill or siken possible predators. Their golden eyes would make it harder for them to see because in an arctic forest they would stand out, but they could give the toad an easier way to see at night. In contrast with its eyes they would also stand out during the night. Another characteristic for the Puerto rican crested toad that would be beneficial for it would be the fact that it's a nocturnal animal. Because it’s only out at night it would give it an easier time finding food, and staying away from possible predators. In this possible environment it would be best for the Puerto rican crested toad to live in the smaller rock ways to hide during the day, so it can come out at night to look for food.
Final thoughts:
Overall doing this action project I had to do a lot of digging for information because it's a very endangered species so that was hard to do for me. If there would be one thing I would want to do differently for my next action project it would be to have a bit more time to edit some of the work that we did for the action project. Besides that it was fun to do and I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Sources:
- Animal Diversity Web, Museum of Zoology University of Michigan https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Peltophryne_lemur/#:~:text=The%20 microclimate%20ranges%20from%2081%20to%2085%C2%B0F%20and,while%20the%20wet%20is%20from%20August%20to%20November.
- “Puerto Rican Crested Toad, Facts and Photos.” Animals, National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/facts/puerto-rican-crested-toad.
- “Puerto Rican Crested Toad.” Potter Park Zoo, https://potterparkzoo.org/animals/puerto-rican-crested-toad/.
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