A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California
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Breeding, Eggs, and Young of
Yosemite Toad - Anaxyrus canorus
(Camp, 1916)(= Bufo canorus)
| Adults in Amplexus | |||
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| Adults in amplexus with the female depositing her eggs, Alpine County | Adults in amplexus, Fresno County with a second male on top of, then underneath the female. He tried to steal the female from the other male, but the other male kicked and made a loud territorial release calluntil the second male finally retreated. | Adults in amplexus, Fresno County © Julie Nelson |
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| Adults in amplexus with eggs, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier | Adults in amplexus, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
Adults in amplexus, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
Adults in amplexus, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
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| Adults in amplexus, Mariposa County © Paul Maier |
This is a short video of a male and female in amplexus in Fresno County. A release call, probably made by the female (on the bottom), can be heard as the frogs hop together. A female typically produces this call after she has already laid her eggs and wants the male to release her. © Julie Nelson |
A short video of adults in amplexus hopping around the breeding pond in Tulumne County © Paul Maier | |
| Breeding and Calling Males | |||
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| Calling male, Fresno County. | Calling male, Alpine County | Male, Fresno County, in calling postition, partly-submerged in a snow-melt meadow pool. |
Male in breeding pond, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
| Videos of Calling Males | |||
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| These are short videos of a male calling from on top of and underneath a piece of buried tree root in a wet meadow in Alpine County. |
This is a 20 second video of a male toad calling in the afternoon from a snow-melt pool in a high-altitude wet meadow surrounded by snow at 9200 ft. elevation in Fresno County. The air temperature was 37 degrees, but the shallow water was over 60 degrees F. due to the sun. Pacific Treefrogs and water sounds are heard in the background. Many thanks to Stephanie Weber, aquatic biologist and toad Muse, for helping me to get this recording by inspiring some cold and sluggish toads to call. |
This is a short video of a montane breeding meadow in Mariposa County, with the trills of a breeding chorus of Yosemite Toads in the background. © Paul Maier |
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| Eggs | |||
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| Eggs, Alpine County | Eggs, Fresno County © Julie Nelson |
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| Tadpoles | |||
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| Tadpoles, Fresno County © Julie Nelson |
Tadpoles, Alpine County | Tadpoles, Alpine County | As they wriggle around while settling down for the night, tadpoles leave these divots in the silty substrate on the bottom of the water about the size of a golf ball, Fresno County © Paul Maier |
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| Tadpoles clustered together to increase solar heat absorption, Fresno County © Paul Maier |
Tadpoles clustered together to increase solar heat absorption, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
This is a short video of tiny recently-hatched tadpoles swimming in shallow puddles in a high mountain meadow in Alpine County | |
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| Metamorphs, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
Metamorphs gathered together to maximize solar input to help their growth and development. Tuolumne County © Paul Maier | ||
| Habitat During Breeding Season | |||
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| Breeding habitat, 8900 ft., Alpine County (site of amplexing adults and eggs shown above is in shallow water at lower left) | Adult male, Alpine County, (at very bottom of pictures) at edge of snow-melt runoff in a meadow in which there are a few calling males during the beginning of the breeding season. |
Tadpoles in habitat, 8,900 ft,. Alpine County |
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| Habitat at breeding time - meadow saturated with snow melt 8,900 ft., Alpine County. |
Two views of breeding habitat at 9200 ft. elevation in Fresno County during the breeding period just after snow melt in late May. |
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| Subalpine habitat in breeding season, with tadpole divots seen in the pond in front, Fresno County © Paul Maier | Transitional habitat in breeding season, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier | Subalpine habitat, Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
Subalpine habitat in breeding season with tadpole divots , Tuolumne County © Paul Maier |
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| Habitat in breeding season, Mariposa County © Paul Maier | |||
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