may number several dozen. This denizen of the waters of northern Brazil 
and the Guianas is toothless as well as tongueless; she could not, by any 
stretch of the imagination, be considered the least bit attractive. 
During the mating season, the usually silent male utters a metallic, 
ticking call, probably to attract the female. When mother toad lays her 
eggs, father obligingly presses them from her long oviduct into pouches 
in her soft-skinned back. In this sanctuary, the eggs, protected from egg- 
eaters, develop until the fully-formed young poke out heads and hands, 
giving the appearance of a crowded school bus. After birth the female 
rubs the skin, with its shiny, hardened pouch lids, off her back. 
The Surinam toad’s grotesque, flat head is not at all beautified by the 
two round-pupilled eyes which seem tacked on like tiny pellets. Its rather 
graceful forelegs have fingers ending in star-shaped discs; its large, 
broadly webbed hind legs enable the toad to move rapidly. The skin is 
dark brown above, whitish on the underparts. 
Slime glands cover the entire surface of its body. There are also 
four rows of large poison glands as well as smaller poison glands scat¬ 
tered throughout the skin. 
CLAWED TOAD 
The clawed toad, related to the Surinam, darts about in the pools of 
tropical Africa. Its name was derived from the dark brown spikes extending 
from three toes on each foreleg. These claws enable the toad to grab the 
food which it shoves glutton-like into its mouth. The hind legs, broadly 
webbed, swiftly propel the toad as it searches for its dinner or escapes 
a foe. 
In August, during the mating season, the male utters a scarcely audi¬ 
ble “tick tick.” 
Soon after the eggs are laid they are attached to stones or water plants 
where they swell to double their original size. Several days after hatching, 
the larvae develop long tentacles, which give the toad the ludicrous ap¬ 
pearance of a miniature sea lion with enormous tusks. However, as the 
toad grows, the tentacles shorten to a more proportionate size. 
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