Gray Treefrog




The Gray Treefrog (classified by scientists as Hyla versicolor) is usually between 1 to 2.5 inches in length. Its most interesting feature may be its color: despite the name, Gray Treefrogs are not always gray! They actually change color depending on their surroundings and the temperature. In low temperatures the animal is a dark gray, but when it is in the sun it turns a greenish color. The skin of the Gray Treefrog is rough with a white spot under the eye.

This frog can be found throughout the eastern USA, but is is difficult to spot. The Gray Treefrog likes to hide in the moist shrubs and swamps of wooded grasslands, rarely coming into plain sight. Adult treefrogs eat insects, flies, crickets, beetles, and sometimes small tadpoles.

Like many other amphibians, the Gray Treefrog mates in pools of standing water after heavy rains. Males arrive first, usually in early May. Each female lays between 700 and 3,800 eggs at a time! Tadpoles will hatch within a few days and transform into frogs by July or August. During the mating period, this kind of frog makes a loud trilling noise. Some people think it sounds like a woodpecker bird!



Learn more about other Amphibians

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