The fire-bellied toad dream

The fire-bellied toad (Bombina Bombina), because it will be mentioned, is one of the species protected under the Life4delta project. The toad is a thermophilic animal and the most strongly associated among our amphibians with an aquatic environment. On land, it can only be found when the body of water in which it resided dries up or in autumn. As soon as the water temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius, toads come ashore in search of a place to overwinter. For their winter sleep they usually choose burrows of earth rocky hollows, rotten tree trunks covered with leaves. They are burrowed at a depth of about 50 cm, clustering, often together with gray toads, green toads and newts.

The resident toads are currently sleeping in containers specially prepared by PAN staff in terrariums. Project staff are constantly monitoring conditions there. From their winter sleep, the animals will wake up in April to hold mating sessions, which sometimes continue into July. You will then be able to hear the characteristic croaking known even from movies. Shortly thereafter, a new generation of amphibians will be introduced into a pond specially designed and dug as part of the project.

Text: Dariusz Wiech