General Information

 

Bullfrogs can get to be pretty big, their size generally averaging between 4 and 7 inches, and they are normally greenish brown in hue.

 

During breeding season, the males and females can be easily distinguished from each other, the males having a yellow throat and the females having a white throat. For the rest of the year, if your heart truly desires to know the sex of a bullfrog, you can look at the tympanum, which is a circle on the side of the frog’s head. If the tympanum is larger than the eye, the frog is male, and if the tympanum is smaller than they eye, the frog is female.

 

As tadpoles, the majority of bullfrog diets consist of underwater vegetation. However, as they mature, they undergo quite a drastic behavioral shift (puberty happens in frogs too) and they start to prey on other animals, including snakes, worms, insects, and fish. They may be cannibalistic and will occasionally eat others of the same species. But despite these brutal habits, they are also the diets of many animals, including herons, turtles, and belted kingfishers.

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American Bullfrogs at the Boneyard

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These frogs aren't super common, but they can be seen every now and then at the Engineering Quad and the Second Street Basin, as they prefer warm and shallow waters to reside in.